


AruAni vs. EreAni: The Trial and Death of Miss Leonhart

by The_145th_King



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Courtroom Drama, F/F, F/M, Femdom, M/M, Memories of the First Levi Squad, Shadow of Eren Kruger, The Legacy of Commander Erwin, political administration, sexual perversion, sexually dominated eren yeager, snk courtroom drama, snk femdom
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-14
Updated: 2017-12-26
Packaged: 2019-02-14 16:43:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 8
Words: 39,917
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13011918
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_145th_King/pseuds/The_145th_King
Summary: “With different ways of thinking, the three characters will go into different directions. The result of that, as part of my conception, is that they will sort of oppose each other. The current chapters may foreshadow this kind of development.”- Mr. Hajime IsayamaThe Female Titan, ANNIE LEONHART, had broken out of her crystal. ARMIN ARLERT, appointed to the highest leadership position inside the walls, bargains for her life in order to bolster their ranks against the enemy. However, for the sake of concealing the complicated costs of using the limitless power of the Coordinate, EREN YEAGER proposes an alternative. Caught in a whirlwind of sinister secrets, noble decisions, and pedantic perversions, MIKASA ACKERMAN and the People of the Island brace themselves against the deadliest clash of giants and ideologues.The Colossal Titan and the Attack Titan fight for the fate of a delicate daddy's girl.





	1. Annie Runs Under the Rain and the Underground

 

_“Annie was also a Marley soldier who infiltrated the trainee camp within the walls. Pointing out the inconsistency of the organization, who trains soldiers to oppose the titans, to Eren. She also keeps her distance from others and avoids contact, she also has a cool personality.”_

\- Mr. Hajime Isayama

\---

There was a lost girl within the walls.

Her jacket was torn off in the confusion, her boots were drenched in mud, and her hair and skin were showered by the rainfall. Annie, with a frantic expression, hid among the masses of people in the night market, haphazardly sharpening her eyes to whichever openings in the city were available to her.

 _Three scouts each on the roofs of the buildings on the west, two Garrison Holdovers on the north._ For all intents and purposes, it would had been near impossible for the Survey Corps to have physically relocated her crystal. She was still in Stohess. She was sure of it. Her feet sneaked into an alley southward to where she presumed was the exit of the district. Ignoring the few curious stares directed at her way, Annie quickly stole a cloth from a stall and covered it over head.

In her flight to escape, her inquisitive mind accelerated. She overheard the singing of the choirs of the Church of the Walls. She noticed a shady deal by a child and a lowly merchant. Capitalists laughed by the windows of their tall buildings, and little girls with umbrellas were delivering newspapers. What concerns her the most were the many images. She observed the images of a horse like creature on the jackets of those who were carrying the guns. They were in a noticeable patrol pattern, and vigilance. _Military Men_ _. Ignorant fools. My escape had been duly alerted._

Unknown to her, it had been two years since the sea had been uncovered. _It must had been only a year._ _I can regroup with Bertolt... Convince Reiner to drop his false warrior pride, and go after the Founding Titan together. He must surely possess it._ _The one who got me into all of this mess._ As the raindrops and mindless chatter from the humans of the walls meshed into her mind, the signs of the exit were clearing to her eyes. There was a cover on the wall where her fingers gripped in, during her ascent. Ever since she was dropped at Paradis, Annie kept hopelessly wandering back toward the only destination that mattered to her: Her Hometown.

“Annie. Stop.”

But one scary obstacle, from the sky, landed in front of her. Her dark hair gracefully swirled along with her green cloak, briefly flashing two long swords.

 _Annie. Fall._ Her heart pumped a little quicker. Annie abruptly turned tail. She will not face her again. She will not fall again. Annie’s hair was messier, her boots were muddier, and her vision blurrier as she ran a little faster, but there was no mistaking that seriousness of voice and the blackness of that hair. She was so close to escaping, climbing over the walls of Stohess. _The one who sliced my fingers without remorse..._

Annie, the lost girl, found herself in a similar back-alley. It was a back-alley from that where she escaped from Kenny Ackerman. Instinctively, she retraced her steps in that memory, and found a parallel manhole. Without hesitation, her small frame jumped in. She slipped down to the subsurface, and stumbled around in the dimness. Because the discomfort of the bad odor was less than the fear of fighting Mikasa.

“Over there! Get her!” The lost girl did not even have a minute to catch her breath, before she parried a punch. She swung her thick legs toward the aggressor's head. Her opponent collapsed. Annie bolted to wherever, and allowed herself a quick smirk. But not sooner than she puffed a gust of oxygen, she felt a hard knock on her stomach. She stumbled on the sewer water. With guns brandished at her sides, no opening was available to her.

“No one knows the underground better than me.” With a hand on his hip, the shortest Ackerman fixed his eyes on the lost girl, who had apperceived a new level of dread. _The one who cut me to pieces at the forest…_

“You’ve been out of your crystal for thirty minutes, but now you’re trapped again. You should be really proud of yourself, brat.”


	2. The Gamblers Talk Between Themselves

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Because of his grandfather’s book, Armin’s dream is to see the world beyond the walls. That world is a symbol of freedom for Armin, and the Titans are the obstacle to that freedom. This is his driving force to defeat the Titans: frozen earth, the snowfields of sand, and the salty water that meets the horizon. He believes that the day they will come when they see such things.”  
> \- Mr. Hajime Isayama

“… You’ve only been out of your crystal for twenty hours. You’ve injured six good soldiers, including sending Flocke into a coma. The Garrison is restituting the valuables you stole, the Military Police is calming the panic you caused among the locals, and the media companies, leg by Berg Newspaper, have been driven into a frenzy. Your breakout tantrum caused us to struggle, more than we already needed to. Our supply is low enough, especially with the food shortage…”

“What Sasha is trying to say, Annie, is that you should feel thankful that they even sent us to speak with you. Watch over you, as the brass figures out what to do.” Hitch began, with a strain in her voice. “Marlowe is dead. Thousands of our scouts and soldiers are dead. Many of them were by your hand, wasn’t it? You were the Female Titan? Admit it to me!”

Two women were in front of her, inside the cramped dungeon room. One wore a brown coat with the markings of the Military Police, while the other didn’t bother to dress formally, at all. Separating them from her were the bars of a cell, as Annie sat on a bed with a glum expression.

 _Being silently encased in the crystal must had been more bearable, than listening to Hitch and this food-loving fool._ Her abdomen still ached, from the blow delivered to it. Her pain must had shaped her thought process, as she didn’t want to lie anymore. Not to Hitch, most of all.

“Yes.”

“Huh?”

“Yes, I was the Female Titan.”

“Why didn’t you tell me? We could have helped you…” Hitch crossed her heart. "We could have fought together..."

“Not me, though.” Sasha inserted. “I would have given you a sweet snack, then probably give you to Mikasa.”

"Mikasa? Mikasa Ackerman...?"

"You know, because her specialty is cutting flesh." So she naughtily twinkled.

“Sasha! Don’t be like that!”

“She tells you what we already know, and you already want to start hugging?”

“Don’t go so hard on her. She’s been through a plenty.”

“What did you just say to me, you little minx?” Her tone of voice felt less controlled.

“Look at her. All frazzled from her run yesterday. She’s probably scared, clueless of what’s going on.”

“Of course, she is. She should be. Had it not been for Heichou, she could be at Wall Maria by now. And how many more of our people would have been hurt? Would have died?”

“You don’t know that.”

“What I do know is she was the Female Titan. She killed my friends.”

“She can change.”

“Marlowe being dead won’t change, though.”

“Don’t go there, Sasha.”

“Unlike her, he wasn’t scared. Absolutely clueless, sure, but never scared. Marlowe was honest and brave. He never ran from consequences, like she has been doing all her life.”

“Of course he was…” Wiping a tiny tear from from her eye. “He was always brave—“

“Instead of him warming you at bed, he’s now six feet under. It’s because of people like her—“”

It was the turn of Hitch to interrupt her. And she did so with a hard slap, as Sasha’s red hair spun clumsily and her knees buckled backwards to the stony surface.

Only the trickles of the flame on the wall torch provided a sound in the tense, awkward atmosphere. As the imprisoned girl watched on, feigning obliviousness, she felt pangs of guilt making her skin stand upward. _If they can talk a little longer, I could slip my hand through the bars…_

Sasha held her cheek as she steadily rose, looking at Hitch like she was prey to be hunted, gagged, and devoured. Before they began fighting over Annie like dogs grappling for a bone, the metal door opened. And in came two guards escorting a man wearing a crown.

A man with long blond hair, a unique nose, and big blue eyes.

For some reason, Annie turned her heard to look away. She didn’t even see his face yet the gentle, and firm, manner in which he carried himself was all the indicator she needed. The darkness and dampness of the side of the room suddenly appealed to her, yet it did not escape her attention when Hitch and Sasha knelt in front of him. Annie could only assume that were was a prior Coup. The military had upended the Royal Family and inexplicably installed this man as a figurehead. _The enemies must be stronger now, and the mastery and understanding over the Founding Titan must had improved._

Hitch and Sasha left, along with the guards. _How brave he must be, to face me by himself without his friends._ He sat on a chair across her and the cell bars, to level with her. Annie allowed herself to glimpse at his eyes, still wonderful and handsome. Yet it felt heavy, as if it was burdened with a new colossal power.

“Annie, we should talk.” Armin started, without any indication of insincerity in his voice that Annie desperately hoped for none.

Silence was his response. The King obviously expected that, and began slowly. “We know Reiner and Bertolt can transform into Titans.”

Annie’s eyes widened faster than it did, when Hitch slapped Sasha. Her abdomen felt like it was hit again. She failed to hide this surprise. She let out a small _tch_ , directed at herself.

“We also know there are only three of you.”

Annie, for her part, at least nodded her head.

“And… I also know that, while Sasha and Hitch had been trying to talk to you, all the ways for you to escape this cell had already been noticed by you, haven’t they?”

“…”

“The weak spots in the bars. The turning of a brick into an escape device. We have a good idea of how you operate, Annie. We also know there is good in you, because you bothered to search for a missing girl you never even met, Carly Stratmann.”

“… I was bored, as usual.” As expected, the imprisoned girl did not fail to notice that Armin is uttering her name as much as possible. _He wants to use me again._ For a nefarious purpose, for a grand purpose, Annie had little concern. Because among the three of his friends, Annie always felt that he was the least dangerous to be around with. _But that’s what I also felt in Stohess… was he the one who whispered to the Attack Titan to launch Mikasa towards me?_ She closed and opened her fist, confirming to herself the presence of her fingers.

The king allowed her to dwell on her thoughts, before deeming it sufficient to continue with his magnanimous tone. “We have known more in a few years, than humanity has ever known in generations.”

“Good for you.”

“And I think it’s only appropriate… that you should know a few things, too.”

Annie raised an eyebrow, but her curiosity was fulfilled when Armin began speaking about Historia being the new Queen, efforts in strengthening the districts of Wall Rose, and him being installed King. Because “he simply knelt in front of Historia in front of her people, for transparency”. The imprisoned girl dismissed this gesture as an amateur move, by an otherwise genius mind. Her sass overtook her caution.

“Wouldn’t Erwin-san disapprove of you?”

Armin gulped, but hid his sweat and nervousness. Annie never realized who really was being played in this ruse. “He expressed valued input in the matter.”

“So the Commander approves of his precious Coup being on the shoulders of two scouts?”

Armin moved his chair closer, and let his hands touch the bars. _His throat is so close…_

“Annie. Look at me.”

So she did. With the intent of masking herself with murder. Yet the expression that she showed to Armin was vulnerability. She was tired. Tired of carrying all the work among herself, Reiner, and Bertolt. Tired of the lies. Tired of running away.

_Tired of concealing what I really feel… How I feel towards the King?_

Armin's eyes analyzed her expressions for himself. He actually had the courage, or suicidal tendencies, to reach out and hold her hand. Her head recoiled, but her emotions overcame her apprehension.

“Annie, help us. And…”

“And what?”

“You’ll be at peace with yourself.”

“Don’t lie to me.”

“I’m not.” So he was not, unlike the last few minutes. “I just know… what it feels like to be conflicted. Like there is a voice in your head, urging you to be heard by others… like…”

 “To be judged.”

“Yes.” Unknown to Annie, screams of Bertolt’s final moments rung on his head. Their blue eyes locked, and for a second, Armin turned his glance downwards, Annie reached for his throat.

They reciprocated a happy kiss. A barrage of kisses was fired under the dimness of the cell.

“Annie… wait.”

Feeling dispirited that she shared a moment with the enemy, Annie backed off. She went to the farthest part of her cell, away from him.

“You didn’t like that, "Your Highness"?”

“No, I meant…. We could have more of that… If you help us. No…”

“No?"

“When you help us. Not if, but when.”

“…”

“It’s inevitable, Annie-san.”

He scanned her body, every inch, and every movement. The King re-balanced the crown on his head, fixed his collar, and made for the door. His head sweaty and his chest stiffened. All parts of his body seemed to stiffen. As his hands turned the handle, the imprisoned girl spoke the words. She spoke the words that would lead to her clemency, and exoneration.

“Fine. I’m in.”

_This time, your gamble won’t work, Armin._

_And mine shall win._

_The mission hasn’t changed._

_You will lead me to him, and I will finish what Reiner and Bertolt couldn’t._

_I will end this, and I will seize him. Because I am going home._

\---

Meanwhile… 

Soldiers patrolled the top of the walls of Trost district. A tall bald boy, and a man with a glorious long mane, were pressingly walking. Their Wings of Freedom trailing above the Colossal Pure Titans in slumber.

“This isn’t right!” The man with the mane continued, in hushed anger.

“You’re right. The King would be more liable to bring her in as some flimsy kumbaya. There is no way I would work with her. No one will work with her. Especially with Wall Maria being repopulated and my village being reconstructed, I would kill her myself, that it to say if my wife hasn’t already.”

“This is wrong. Commander Pixis tends to think like Armin. We don’t know how Heichou and “she” feel about i If Annie wants to help, she can volunteer as guinea pig to Commander Zackly. She can and be a part of his art!”

“You’re not wrong.”

The gales blew and their hairs spun, as Military Men and Scouts intently listened to the chatter of the Citizenry below. They passed and saluted Commander Nile Dok, being extra nice to him because his potential vote. His influence would be in need for the trial ahead. Walking past Garrison Holdovers, who saluted to them, the two friends arrived under the looming shadow of the man. It was the mortal vessel that the Female Titan sought to seize. 

“Yo, man. I hope you’re doing okay, forgetting all the tiresome hardening you’ve been doing, and the nightmares, and all.”

“What Connie is trying to get at, is that we’re here to tell you something. It just came up. There is something you should know before Commander Nile and Commander Hange.”

So his head turned towards them, but his eyes drifted to beyond. He already sensed the tremors.

He will listen to what they have to say, but his presumptions were already determined. He shall then proceed, to the Final Showdown. 

A Spider was about to sprout from the wall, and ensnare Stohess with its web.

 

 

 

 


	3. The People v. Annie Leonhart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “I haven't lived all that long yet, but there is something I firmly believe in. The people who have the ability to change something in this world, all without exception, have the guts to abandon things important to them, if they have to. They are those who can abandon even their humanity.”  
> – Armin Arlert
> 
> “The enemy is remarkably powerful. At this rate, if nothing changes, the horrors of the past will simply repeat themselves. If it meant I could stop that from happening, I would gladly offer my own life. But I’m not ready… to sacrifice Historia…”  
> – Eren Yeager

“Who is subject to our jurisdiction is of the Military Police, graduate of the 104th Training Corps…”

“For levying war against the government, in common design with the traitors Reiner Braun and Bertolt Hoover…”

“For physical injuries, against thirty of our townsfolk in Stohess district…”

“For premeditated murder, with eighteen aggravating circumstances of Treachery, Abuse of Superior Strength, Abuse of Confidence, Misprision of Possessing the Power of the Titans… against fifty of the Scouts of the Survey Corps at the Forest of Giant Trees…”

“What is your plea, Annie Leonhart?”

The girl at trial raised her head, and affixed her uninterested eyes toward the fat man on his high chair.

“Guilty.”

An uproar emanated from the crowd. It was a combination of jeers and leers, from those who were once her peers.

_I tell the truth and the people have already cast their judgement. This theater play won’t play well, “Your Highness”._

Everyone, of interest and of no reputation, gathered in the largest open-indoor stadium in Stohess. This was enough space to dock a hundred persons in a crowd. The pillars and columns were designed for easy dispersion of sound. Small-group activities can be audibly conducted. And this trial was no ordinary activity.

This infrastructure was similarly designed to the place, that the Attack Titan was held to trial, at Trost.

The Church of the Walls took over one noisy row. The merchants and the capitalists filled in the oppose. One of the viewers included Mr. Stratmann, who Annie once helped in a personal matter. Among the rest were filled with Scouts, Military Men, Fake News Peddlers, Garrison Holdovers, and the fishermen and farmers. _Hitch should be in the crowd._ Yet Annie’s intuitional scan of her environment only led her to see the lame Boris. He gave her consternations.

_All discriminating me. Like the devilish Eldian I am. “Guilty”, was all I said. I am not a good public speaker, but this should mark the end of my career prospects._

Her sarcasm levels were high, as she was seated on the center. She had either brooding Ackerman beside her acting as guards, and overly dramatic wooden doors that served as an entry point behind her. In front of her was the dais, an elevated table and the panel of judges. _Those who shall decide whether to kill me or kiss me._ Indeed, the veritable hierarchy, and full force of the current political and military system, was before her.

The fat man, Dariuz Zackly, fiddled with his fingers. He subconsciously fantasized about his fetishes. On his side was Annie’s former overseer, Nile Dok, with a bearded face. Dot Pixis, the Commander of the Garrison, who read to Annie all the charges to which she submitted to. There was the non-special instructor, Keith Shadis. Yet it was on the opposite side of Zackly, that piqued at the interests of the girl at trial. _The King. Armin. Looking at me with those sympathetic eyes._ The woman that was once Christa, but now Historia. _Queen Historia._ Sasha, pissed off, who held a half-eaten apple on one hand. The rest of the chairs were filled in, by three replaceable nameless xecutives unknown to Annie.

 _Everyone here probably is stronger than me. Or just foolish against what’s to come. But it shouldn’t matter to me. I am just going with the flow, Armin._ There were notable absences, due to the vacancy of four seats. None of the present seem to be affected, yet it tingled her all the same. _The chairs must be for Commander Erwin, and the higher-ups of the Survey Corps. One for the horse-face, once for the jolly idiot, and one for "him"._

The King brought up his hand. _Just on cue._

After a gentle bump on his shoulder, Commander-in-Chief Zackly snapped back from his dozing off. He addressed the People.

“You have heard the Female Titan. I implore our people to keep an open mind, for what our parties have to express. Their briefs and discussions shall weigh heavily, upon my final judgement. But I promise all of you,” Zackly balled his fist, and his stupid face looked righteously vindictive. “There shall be no acquittal!”

Nile Dok was first to stand up. “I did not even realize it. One of the newer recruits to my organization was a Titan. Never mind did I mind to think that she was the infamous Female Titan. It is in our official position that she be hanged, as it is the appropriate penalty for all deserters and traitors…” He almost even fumbled, and tripped over his own words.

Sasha stood up, discarding her fully eaten apple leavings, to the listening crowd. “Annie Leonhart was always known to me as the quiet badass who, when no one was looking, loved sweets. I would compliment her, sleep with her, and eat with her at our training time with Keith Shadis. I liked her. But what I didn’t like was when she stabbed our backs, spat on us, and transformed to the ugliest Titan I have ever seen. She killed my friends! She killed my mentors! Captains Petra, Olou, Gunther, Eld…!” The girl at trial sensed that the meanest Ackerman beside her twitch his hand. Annie audibly gulped.

“She was such a nasty woman…” Complained one of her co-trainees.

“She was a slacker, a liar, and a fraud…” Bellowed by Boris.

"I was repeatedly plunging my knife into her crystal prison, and shouted "Come out and face us, you butcher! You coward!"" So claimed someone, by the name of Kenji.

“She broke my arm in a bar…” Argued by the man whose arm was broken by her, in a bar.

It was a representative of the Church of the Walls, who took it over the top. “She should die! We do not need more of these abominations, especially one so transparently against our own posterity! Kill her! Kill her! Pastor Nick from heaven would agree! Kill her! Kill her!” So led to one entire row in Stohess beginning to sing. “Testify! Testify! Kill her! Shame, Shame, Shame!”

The claims descended to such outrageous levels. Even Annie eventually felt that Eldians didn’t deserve to die. As the ballad finished its final chorus, and the oppositors elicited a final groan from the People, so was the next phase of the plan initiated…

Dot Pixis, of the Garrison, stood. His bald head briefly illuminated the crowd, from the darkness of the souls of the oppositors. “It is true that the Titans are our sworn enemy. We will live and fight until one species dies. However, we do not have to fight alone. It was in Trost that humanity earned its first victory against the Titans. Let us not forget that we earned that victory… with the help of the power of the Titans…!”

It was a simple enough plan, from the mind of the King. The world should first hear the most abhorrent arguments against her. The people shall feel distraught, maybe even the meekest would feel disgusted. Then the remaining speeches shall be of the tremendous benefit of using the Female Titan. The people shall be more palatable to accept her among the ranks.

 “She helped find my daughter in one day, without injury and delay.” So Mr. Stratmann recounted. “She must had utilized her Titan powers…”

“She cuts deep with a blade, and her biology opens to us more opportunities, to learn about our enemy…” So Keith Shadis advised.

“By the records, she almost kicked off Kenny Ackerman’s head. A little girl who almost killed the son of a bitch who butchered my Daddy wouldn’t be such a villain to me. I wish she transformed to a Titan to squish him and the rest of the mooks then and there…” So said by Boss Flegel Reeves.

 _They want me for my power. Not for who I am._ Notwithstanding the existential crisis, it was a brilliant plan to Annie. It was concocted by Armin himself. He purposely left Sasha, the Church of the Walls, and a few others ignorant of the plan. They were better left acting like chess pieces, giving in to their worst emotions and verbalizing such. But people like Zackly, Nile Dok, Keith Shadis, and most of those supporting her now were in the know.

“She was a go-getter, and the most energetic of our class besides Marlowe Freudenberg. She may have a scary face, especially at bed, but she loves cats…” So gushed by Hitch.

The faces on the crowd were softer, and even more empathetic. Listening to all these passionate pleas, even the girl at trial was eventually led to believe that there was a life. There was a life within these walls for her.  _Just for me._

_But this is not my home. Armin, for all his courage, is not my father._

Despite the urging of the King, and the Commander of the Garrison, the female Ackerman declined to speak. The same offer was made to the shortest.

 “We should make choices that we shouldn’t regret.” The oldest living Ackerman stated. “This feels awfully familiar. We are at a special trial for a girl, when we had something similar for a boy just a few years ago. I once watched over him. The first boy who he himself can transform into a Titan. I can almost imagine myself kicking him near the center of a court, just like I could do now.” Mikasa deliberately coughed, and Armin’s planners appeared slightly agitated. “I remember. I was tasked to watch over him. I promised to kill him if he ever went out of line. But he never did. We pushed him around, called him horrible names, and asked him to give his body again and again. Made him carry a burden he never wanted nor shied away from. He was selfless—“

“Levi-san.” Dot Pixis uncomfortably jerked, obviously recognizing that the Ackerman decided to rebel against the script. “This is in concern for the Female Titan. We limited our statements involving her person. It was deemed appropriate, by the King and Queen themselves, not yet to inform him. It is best not to mention Ere—“

“I know what I want to say.” Irritated. “And this it what I say. I’ll say it now.” His head turned, to meet the captive beside him. “I’ve fought with Eren Yeager. I’ve bled with Eren Yeager. And let me tell you, brat, you are no Eren Yeager.”

Annie grimaced, at the aggression shown to her. But she felt the confident aura of the King, reaching out to her and covering for her. Apparently, even the audience was uncertain of how to process that information. Exchanges of utterances of "what" and "huh" were overheard. Levi's words weren't understood. The meanest Ackerman looked like he wanted to kick the shit out of everyone in the stadium, but conceded to return to his moody foreboding. Almost nobody appreciated his point. _I might be shorter than him, but it looks like there is a worse public speaker than me._

Annie did not fail to notice. There was a longing expression that Mikasa directed to the man beside her.

 _What could this beast be longing for? Love? Respect?_ The speeches went on, until there were three left. The King, The Queen, The Judge.

“A person is good to you if that person is useful to you.” The King elegantly started, with such statement evoking a dreadful memory in both him and Annie. “These were words that I spoke to Annie Leonhart moments before we captured her here in Stohess. A person is bad to you, when that person seeks your failure. The Titans are the bad. We are the good. And today, we listened to the good and the bad from a woman who is stuck somewhere in between.” For dramatic effect, Armin looked to the crowd and then to Annie. “If there be no objection, I ask for all of us to talk to the Female Titan. If there be no objection, allow her to help us. If there be no objection, allow her to be good to us.”

_Such a graceful soul. The people believe in him, just like that time I believed in him… that led me to get my fingers sliced, fall from the Wall, immobilized a crystal…_

It was the turn of Historia, next. To the girl at trial, she was nothing more than a Puppet Queen. She only married Armin by arrangement, out of convenience and necessity. _Maybe because they’re both blond. Christa is shorter than I am, so Armin doesn’t really like her…_

Mentally not listening to everything that the Queen said, Annie took a deep breathe. It was the first one she took, since she ran under the rain and underground. The crowd, and soon the world, would be resigned to the notion that the Female Titan is among the ranks of the angels. The Female Titan will fight for humanity, predictably not knowing it intends to betray them again.

Zackly dozed off. The arguments were trite to him, compared to his exotic art. He was about to be woken again. 

“YO! YO! OBJECTION!” Boomed one noisy tall bald man, who was approaching the outskirts of the center from the row of the Church zealots. “I OBJECT! SHAME! SHAME! OBSOLETE! OBSOLETE!... Is that how it works?"

Sasha gasped, “I thought you weren’t due for another week!”

“Connie.” Armin began, without a sign of alarm. “What brings you here?” _What is this? Just as I thought that this farce was at its end._

“This farce is at an end!” Boomed one man with a glorious mane, coming from the row of the capitalists. He was waving his fists in the air wildly, discomforting his fellow persons into an uptick frenzy. “This was part of your grand plan, wasn’t it, “Your Highness”? But we are putting a stop to it right here! Consider this as a tender of my formal OBJECTION!”

“Jean.” Murmured by the female Ackerman, beside Annie. The audience was beginning to stir. A sense of the inevitable somewhat came over the land. _Inevitability for what though? Fear? Panic? Joy? An attack from the Titans?_ Annie looked around. For a second, she considered become a girl who ran from her second chance. She considered escaping and bolting amongst the short lapse of confusion, that was about to escalate into noisy pandemonium, then shocked silence. She looked towards the King. _Why… Why does he look worried now?_

In a gust of wind, the doors behind her opened with flapping fervor. The Ackermans, the scariest duo of people to Annie, gasped in fear and bowed their heads. The man with the mane and the tall bald boy were in smug joy. The faces in the audience were in panic. And the look on Zackly’s face appeared like it was attacked by a Titan.

Annie dared to gaze back, and her heart ceased pumping. It was as if she had been forcibly re-entered into the crystal.

“It’s been three years, huh, Annie?”


	4. Eren Leads a Political Rally

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Eren witnessed the death of Hannes, whom he was close to in childhood. Later, he saw Armin nearly die during the Battle of Shiganshina; and now they face the massive enemy that is Marley. Now that he has realized how powerless they really are, what does Eren think when he sees the ocean? The boy who once said “I’ll kill every single one of them” stands at a crossroads.”
> 
> \- Mr. Hajime Isayama

His eyes were gray. His eyes were green, then they were yellow. To Annie’s mind, it was as if hidden ghosts were trying to wrestle the consciousness away from him. The past hosts of the Founding Titan were trying to crush him. If Armin looked tired, then Eren resembled an animal past his years of prime labor. But his long dark hair, his shriveled sinew of a body, and the bags under his eyes indicate to the girl at trial, that this is a man who will go against the flow. This is a man who will not bend. This is a man who will never, ever, steer clear from his course.

_And what is his course? Does he intend to sweep me off my feet and free me, or finish eating me?_

“Eren,” Nile Dok interjected, sweatier than Bertolt ever was in his life. “We thought you were at Trost, fortifying the Titan Guillotines.”

“This is quite unusual.” Dot Pixis unhelpfully added. “We did not receive a notice from you, let alone the three of you. We were left to believe that you would rendezvous with Commander Hange.”

“I guess we decided to come along.” Jean replied, crossing his arms.

“We don’t want to miss this. Not when there is a “happy reunion” among the top ten of the 104th.” Connie said, displaying his increased intellect and capacity for dry humor.

The people of Stohess were fidgeting for a response. A number of the Fake News Peddlers attempted to push themselves closer for a better view, as many of the weasel merchants uncaringly gave way.  Chatter grew and grew, the Queen exchanged glances with her advisors. She curled and enhanced her long hair, as she felt aroused. The meanest Ackerman bowed his head, in contemplation. The female Ackerman was struggling to focus, at either the King or the Savior.

Armin took a breath, closed his eyes, then reopened the same with renewed vigor. “Eren, how may we help you? What do you want?”

“Freedom.”

“Eh…? We all want Freedom.”

“Yes, freedom from our existence as persecuted Eldians.”

Annie raised an eyebrow. This is the first time that she heard the word of “Eldian” uttered, within these walls.

“Freedom from our oppressors of Marley.”

_Marley, so they already know, huh?_

“Freedom from war, slaughter, and all the rest.”

“Eren, don’t say it.” The King pleaded.

“Don’t say what, Armin? We will fight for freedom. Me, with my Titan powers, and you with yours.”

_Yours?_

“Our Colossal Titan.”

Annie was not slow not to recognize the hint. _Armin… ate Bertolt?_

Gradually, it became clearer to Annie. Armin ate Bertolt. Armin, as the Colossal Titan, knelt to Historia.Thereby, her reputation was enforced as a Divine Queen. _The Queen who brought the Colossal Titan to its knees._ Yet what was distracting Annie wasn’t the new form and substance of the hierarchy. It wasn’t the reason for the crowning of the King. It was the death of her friend.

 _Bertolt… is dead?_ It was hot. It was as if the sun on the sky was melting her.

“Eren…”

“Would it be ironic for me? I seek freedom, by requesting a permanent imprisonment for the Female Titan. She will not be an ally, a weapon, or the like. She will not be a good person to us, because we’ve already seen right through her.”

The King was testing the climate. Connie and Jean furiously nodded their heads, to everything said by their friend. The civilians were murmuring amongst themselves, for even they were not dense. They recognized a potential stickler, the brewing of internal rebellion.

“Imprisonment?” Dot Pixis asked, ever the pragmatic. “She had been in that crystal for three years.”

“That’s true.” Like the orator he was, Eren raised, and choreographed, his hands in argument. “In three years, we have regained Shiganshina district. We have traveled to the basement of the Yeager household, discovered the truth of this world, and duly informed our people. We have eliminated every last Titan in this island, and cultivated new resources provided by the sea and our neighboring countries. What we have achieved is unprecedented, secured by the foundations of the sacrifices by Commander Erwin Smith and those of his valor.”

“The Great Manipulator remains.” So continued the Savior, who was manipulating the residents of Stohess. “Marley sends their war ships. Almost thirty-two in number, yet we have turned them back one-by-one. Marley sends ships, we sink them or capture them. Marley sends spies, we imprison them or execute them. Whatever Marley sends, we return with nothing but steel and fire. What more, then, can we respond when Marley sends their greatest warriors? We defeated the Colossal, humbled the Armored, and the Female is under our jurisdiction.”

“I must remind everyone here, so that no one shall forget.” His previously unmoving eyes shifted, to a serious expression. He bid them toward his childhood friend turned King. “We can never be free until all our enemies are destroyed.”

 _Even if he possessed no natural talents, Eren’s speaking ability was unparalleled among the 104 th. _This was his plan. He visibly unsettled Annie, by making her process startling information. So that it appeared to the crowd that she harbored menacing motives, of which she unfortunately really did. 

 _All the Pure Titans killed… Commander Erwin dead and the expedition for the basement accomplished… Armin… Bertolt… what now…?_ For one mad moment, Annie thought of cutting herself deep. She thought of transforming into the monster that everyone knew her to be.

A zealot from the Church of the Walls, spotting such bedlam, pointed to her. “She intends to kill us all! Shame the enemy! Shame! Shame! Shame!”

Mr. Statmann and Flegel Reeves shouted for calm. “EVERYONE SHUT THE HELL UP AND SIT DOWN!”

The crowd was riling up. It was as if another civil war was about to burst, inside the stadium. A delicate, fragile girl was the cause. Annie tried not looking at anyone’s eyes, but caught the melancholy ones of Hitch directed toward her.

The King lowly asked. “Do you see her as an enemy, Eren?”

“I see her as someone who shall not help our cause.”

“People thought the same of you. Mikasa and I stuck with you. And here we are.”

“Don’t compare me to her.”

“Why not? Does that mean I shouldn’t compare you to me?”

Both friends took a breath. It was obvious to everyone. There was an imminent crash between the two figureheads. The questions had been framed in the hearts and minds of the Citizenry. Who was the moral compass inside the walls? The Curious King or the Solemn Savior?

“Armin, I have hurt people. I hurt people for the greater future within the walls. I killed two sex traffickers when I was but a mere child, to protect Mikasa. I slaughtered Titans, patriotic Eldians forced into monsters by the enemy, to protect our people. I have surrendered my time, my chances at love, and almost all of my being, to protect the interests of the unborn. The freedom of this girl shall not serve the interests of our people.”

“If you want to change something, you have to give up everything. Your freedom, your pride, and your life, were the exact things that I gave up to defeat the Colossal Titan. You say you have sacrificed many things, and as your friend, I believe you. I am just asking, Eren, for one more time, even if it is the last time, please sacrifice your preconditions and let us accept her as new opportunity to protect our people.”

The Last Hope of Humanity grit his teeth. It was a better argument, and he was consulting all the voices in his head to find the appropriate response. Annie noticed, in the same manner she noticed that Eren shot a curious, longing look toward the Queen. _Ymir wouldn’t like that, Eren._

In truth, Eren wanted Annie as far away from the King and Queen as possible. He knew that Armin would be the one who would soon figure it out. He would figure out how to fully maximize the power of the Founding Titan. If Historia ate Annie and was able to transform into the Female Titan, thereby allowing Eren to touch her like he did with Dina Fritz, then it could change everything.

The Queen's adorable eyes studied Eren. He turned to the sky for guidance. One life to Eren was one too much. Not again, he thought. And given that Eren thought that Armin was prone to abandon his humanity, if it meant saving the world...

He doesn't want the Queen to die. And as much as he represses his feelings, he doesn't want Annie to die, either.

“Eren…” Dot Pixis sought a quick end to this, one in which no blood would spill. No accidental death had to occur. “We were about to formally vote on the fate of Annie Leonhart. We are indeed, determining upon the merits, whether to reconsider her as a potential supervised asset or… or…”

Jean spoke up, “An indefinite prisoner?”

“Ha!” Sasha ravenously squeaked, licking her teeth but holding in her appetite. “Even I can see that this was a set-up. You wanted us to play along so that Annie could live!”

“Huh?” Nile Dok, miserably pretended to act surprised. “That’s not true at all.”

From the ground, Levi uncrossed his arms. “It’s true. All of it.”

“Enough.” The King moaned, overturning the speakers. He doesn’t want to lose the compliance of the crowd. “We were about to vote.”

“Then let us vote.” Eren insisted. “We have always been about transparency. This is what made us different from the previous Reiss line and their aristocrat allies.”

“As King, with my powers, I ratify the sentiment. We shall decide the fate of Annie Leonhart. So…” Armin followed. It was a sudden gamble he hoped to win. “All those in favor of keeping Annie in perpetual deprivation should stand with Eren then…”

The onlookers observed with bated breath. To finalize their point, Connie and Jean obviously exited the bleachers and walked toward Eren. Every decision Connie would make would be supported by Sasha, and vice versa. It was true especially with this. Levi Ackerman subconsciously took a step toward his favorite best boy. Even Nile Dok, bungling his papers, showed his true colors by momentarily standing and proceeding off the dais. Half of the executives bit their lips, but gained the courage to move. Boris and his section of the crowd were applauding the convictions being displayed.

Armin still had friends. Dot Pixis gave him a reassuring look. Keith Shadis was not noticed, but he remained in his seat. Hitch could be overheard lobbying for Annie’s life to the common folk, the fishermen and the farmers. Mr. Stratmann and Flegel Reeves were engaged in a shouting match with the Church of the Walls. Customarily, the Queen was supposed to be depicted as a neutral force in contentious disputes. She remained in her chair, but with an uneasy look. The other half of executives stayed out of loyalty, fear, or total indifference to what would be decided.

The Fake News Peddlers scribbled into their notebooks, coming up with one theory per minute. The vultures were already circling the remains of what would be controversial, political suicide..

In the movement of the masses, there Annie sat on the center of the web. She wore a downcast face, not fully comprehending that Bertolt was no longer of this world. _He always did look at me… stared at me... He didn’t look too bad either… Maybe we could have married…?_

She was deprived of her romance. She was deprived of her friends. Soon, she was perhaps to be deprived of her life.

Mikasa stood beside her. She, herself, was disoriented. She held her head, again, in pain. She was torn.

“They have the votes.” The King sadly spoke. “Maybe I could still flip this…?”

He turned for a sign of hope… and the fat man beside him obstinately supplied it.

Zackly was dozing off the entire time.

“Zzz.”

It was not easy to determine, when exactly the slumber started. After a signal from the King, Dot Pixis madly shook Zackly by his shoulders. They needed to invalidate the outcome results.

The collective groan from the laymen, the schemers, and the troublemakers rudely woke up the Commander-in-Chief. His head bumped the table, and his gasps spread his saliva. His greasy fingers retouched the spectre of a pair of glasses that was no longer on his eyes.

“Ah.” Zackly was dawning upon the anger and annoyance, being channeled to him. “It seems… It seems we are at an impasse! I officially decide to delay these proceedings until three days hence. Dismissed!”

Without waiting from the approval of the King or Queen, Zackly bumbled from his chair and hustled away. He was off to work on his dreams upon developing his art.

The crowd at Stohess rumbled, partly brawled, and shouted obscenities at each other. Dot Pixis tried to catch up with Zackly and slow him down, Nile Dok collapsed on a rail for relief, while no one noticed where Keith Shadis went. The Zealots of the Church of the Walls were cursing impatiently at Mr. Stratmann and Flegel Reeves, who stood their ground with equal hostile energy.

"That woman found my daughter, Carly, when she was missing in this very district."

"That woman is the Female Titan, who actually killed people in this district. Shame! Shame! Justice for Pastor Nick!"

"Kenny Ackerman killed my Dad. You don't see me being obnoxious, overly bitter, and loud!"

Hitch tried to plead with Jean, Boris, Mr. and Mrs. Springer, yet they let each of her arguments fall on deaf ears.

The King was relieved, and gave Annie a sensitive disposition.

The Queen, dispassionately, held the King’s shoulder, “Armin, you should rest. This is just beginning.”

“No. It’s just about to end.” He took his shoulder away from her. “I’ll work for it.” The King aimed one more calculating gaze to his best friend. He stood up, frowned at what he saw, then paraded off with his guards. He was going to win this referendum, for himself, and for his people. And unconsciously to him, Armin was doing this for her.

 _Lucky for me._ The Fake News Peddlers were shoving toward her, Annie Leonhart, for an ambush interview. The meanest Ackerman strolled away, and was conversing with the Savior of Humanity.

"Remember what I told you at Shiganshina, just before we let Erwin go. Look past your own feelings."

"There will be no feelings needed to be looked past, once all our enemies are wiped out."

Who was left to protect Annie from the Fake News vultures was the one who sliced off her fingers, as she climbed the walls as a Titan.

Mikasa even tenderly held Annie’s hand, and she escorted her downstairs. They headed back to the dungeon room. The two lost girls had empty expressions, which masked the conflicts that raged upon their beings.

 _The one who sliced off my fingers is holding my hand…_  She chuckled to herself, sardonically. Annie was reminded that she, decidedly, was not in friendly territory.

 

 

                                                                        


	5. The Sexy Girls Make Their Partners Tumescent

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “For Mikasa, the battle against the Titans puts her pride on the line. The day Shiganshina fell, her family was destroyed and she only had Eren left. In order to remain close to him, she adopted his resolve and joined the military. However, after the Battle of Shiganshina, her way of thinking with Eren began to diverge. Eren did not give up on fighting for Armin’s life in Shiganshina until the very end, but Mikasa saw no choice but to give up on saving Armin. Will Eren and Mikasa continue having the same perspective?”  
> \- Mr. Hajime Isayama
> 
> “Eren had a psychological wall, blocking his initiative upon learning of the actions of his father. It rendered him unable to act. But when he witnesses Historia, in a similar situation with Rod Reiss, challenging and then overcoming her own father, Eren felt the strength to move on.”  
> \- Mr. Hajime Isayama

“Hey crybaby, my name isn’t Dina Fritz.”

“I’ll stop calling that name at the precise moment you stop whispering “Ymir” to my ear.”

The last Reiss snorted wildly, as Eren’s lips curved into an uncommon, strained smile. Their hot naked bodies tightly embraced, inside the totally dark quarters of which the Queen was assigned to in Stohess. Under the sheets, as it were in their frequent sessions, Historia was on top of him. She was controlling the pace, shooing away his prying wanton hands. Her delicate fingers gently stroked his hardened Titan. Her mouth nipping at his ears, as she was just warming up.

“What are you going to do about it, Ymir?”

“What makes you think that I am Ymir?”

“You have hair as long as her. You act mysterious and moody like her. And you’re more physical with me.”

“Physical?”

“Having sex with the Queen." Her hand gripped more rigidly, menacingly, evoking a vulnerable squeal from the most powerful person in the world. “By the way,” She re-positioned herself, and let her wet eyes pierce his dry ones. “Being unsatisfactory is a capital offense.”

She forced his mouth open with her tongue, motioned faster with her hand, and scratched his skin. Eren provided an energetic response. A response that barely proved anything but unsatisfactory, thus pardoning him from a royal offense.

And so they snuggled and struggled, for the majority of the night. Some nights, after relieving memories that felt like nightmares, he would come to Historia with no words. She would hold him for hours as he cried. Some nights, Historia went to him, and he let her do whatever she wanted to at him. They oftentimes cuddled silently, as the weight of the world suffocated their beings. Historia would talk about her orphanage, Armin, and the machinations of internal politics. Eren would talk about the Survey Corps, the fortification of the districts, and his non-self-aware ramblings for Marley genocide.

In all their divulgences of secrets, Eren would never tell her Queen what he suspected. Eren never told her that, if she ate Annie and transformed into a Titan, then there was a potential to fully maximize the potential of the Coordinate. They could wake the Colossal Titans, from their slumber inside the walls.

But he doesn’t want to sacrifice Annie. Nor does he want to sacrifice the woman who was giving him an incredible head.

By the time the moon was setting off, the Savior of Humanity was panting and sweating, his Titan fluids spilled all over the sheets, and all over him. The gorgeous Queen laid beside him. She appeared bored, but felt smug. Her arms and leg wrapped around over his body, like a superior snake constricting its prey, toying with it.

“Ymir,” She gingerly murmured, simultaneously scratching his already red chest. “What’s going on between you and my husband? Your political rally was so lame, you know.”

“The King and I,” He replied hoarsely, exhausted from the one-sided bandicooting that the Queen put him through. “The King and I are engaged in cordial discussion, over a matter of contentious dispute.”

“Har. You really are funny." Her loose palm caressed his trapped chest. "Is this about Annie?”

“Yes, about the Female Titan.”

“Why do you keep calling her the Female Titan? Is this like you just calling me Dina?”

“No.”

“Don’t lie to me.” She pinched his nipple. She pinched it solidly, eliciting a muffled shout. “You don’t think I remember that you sometimes called me “Annie”, at your climaxes?"

"Historia... Don't be..."

"I should be the one comforting you, my dear."

"Huh?"

"Your climaxes? They weren't so bad. Most of them were quick, but what was important is that you were satisfied."

"Wait a minute... Wait... I wasn't even thinking that."

"Uh-huh. The sooner you accept it, Ymir, the more content we will both be."

“Ugh. It’s not like that.”

This was too easy for her. “We’re both short of height. We both have blond hair. Is that it?” 

“You both hid behind masks.”

“Oh?”

“She was a warrior in the guise of a soldier.”

“Oh.”

“You were Historia who hid behind Christa.”

“Uh-huh. But let me remind you, Ymir, of the difference.”

“Your Queenliness, wait-“

His arm was caught in the middle of her chest, and it slid up and down with sensitivity. The heat between her legs was provoking a non-stop shuddering of skin. Her mouth neared his ear, as her nose and face maneuvered through his hair. Her voice teased, “She can’t do the things I can do.” Her knee rubbed his stomach, and deliberately further spread the seminal fluid over him, dominantly reminding him of his lack of permission, no, inability to shift inside her. The man that was called Ymir was both despondent and hysterically aroused.  "Mwah. Mwah, Mwah."

"Historia-"

"Shut your mouth. You were never skilled in pillow talk, anyway. Give me a moment."

The most powerful person on earth whimpered, as the alpha Queen made use of her moment. 

“Back on topic. You didn’t have a problem mentioning her name then. So why now?”

“Well, it’s complicated." He was wincing in pain. "She’s out of her crystal.”

“Ah. It's the perfect time. Shouldn’t you be more understanding of her?”

“Well, I don't know what you mean.”

“Besides the real Ymir, you were the first one to understand me. We were stuck in that room, when Levi-Heichou and the others captured Dimo Reeves. When Armin dressed up as me, and Jean pretended to be like you. Isn’t that right, Ymir?”

“I remember, Historia.”

"You also had no respect for women, because you had no game."

"I somewhat misremember that..."

“We shared a moment in that room. We shared a moment in that bed…” She licked his ear, to remind him. The Attack Titan’s host tried to distance his face away, yet it was locked back into place with a casual squeeze of her thigh. "I had to beat that respect into you."

“Historia… wait.” He wriggled for movement, her hold weakened.

“What is it, Ymir?”

“Damn it. I’m serious.”

"I'm serious too, honey." She smashed her knee into his gut, but Eren held in his scream. It was amusing the Queen.

"I hate it... when you do that."

"Oh? Then what's the safe word?"

"Damn it. Stop."

The Queen studied his face for a moment, then shrugged. She allowed her lover to breathe with a slow release of her body. He lackadaisically pushed himself from his prone position, clumsily muttering curses to himself, as the Queen watched without haste. They sat on the bed. They faced each other. The Queen’s head lazily leaned on his shoulder. He leveled with her, and their eyes locked. The woman tried to search for his meaning.

“I didn't know it was your time of the month." She joked. "What’s come over you?”

“You know what’s come over me.”

“Annie? You sparred a lot with her, right? During our training days?"

"Right-"

"I remember that you were writhing in pain, on the grass and on the ground anywhere. It was a daily sight for us girls. I thought it was funny, as she huffed air and just walked away from you. She was hot. But alas, every time she walked away, she was hiding her blush.""

"Huh?""

"You didn't know that she had a crush on you? You were the suicidial bastard, the only man brave enough to even spend a moment with her. Oh well. I'm not surprised. Did your manhood develop an instinctive fear, because of the amount of times her thick legs kicked hard into it?  I didn’t think she’d scare you, even though her face does precede her. I’ve never seen such a terrifying face on a girl.”

“Historia...”

“I had a woman-to-woman talk with Sasha, and she was about ready to rip her eyes out.”

Eren cupped her cheek. His eyes were absent anger or determination. It was not filled with anything at all, as if hoping he would find solace and answers in her eyes.

“Eh? You must really be at your period. You haven’t been this sweet to me, in a while.” Her gaze gradually softened. She played with his hair for a bit, then kissed lightly on his cheek.

“Don’t talk to me as your Queen. Talk to me as your friend.” She insisted, with a hint of iciness.

He took a breath. A few tears rolled out of his eyes, and her fingers rose to remove them.

"I don't have to remind you that grown-up adults have to use words, when speaking with each other." She suggested, almost sarcastically. "Eren, you used that mouth of your on me to great effect. Use it again."

“I… I don’t want to lose you.”

“Hah. A lot of people don’t want to lose me.”

“That’s true. But it will be different for them.”

“Please explain. Stop dilly-dallying.”

“The hierarchy looks to you as the figurehead. The people look to you as their ruler. Our friends look to you as Historia, sometimes Christa, or a little bit of both. You are a wife to my best friend, a confidant to my childhood friend Mikasa, and are the greatest public threat to the monsters of Marley.”

“I'm the baddest bitch in town. So?”

"However..."

"Out with it, Eren."

“However, you are more than just Historia to me.”

“Aww. How cute. Tsk. Don't be a child about this.”

Her two fingers cupped him by his chin, and she lifted it so she could have a better view.

"Is this about the memories? Do we have to spend this night with you crying in my embrace, again?"

“Partly. You are Historia. You are Christa. You are Dina. You are Annie.” Eren continued, growing more concerned with every list of a name known to him, or known to a past lifetime. Eren was the vessel of the Founding Titan. Being in possession of two Titans, in a complex fashion, opened up his mind to a multitude of memories. A multitude of lifetimes, and personalities vying for maneuverability of his body.“You are this person. You are that person. To me, objectively… you… you are…”

“The world?” HIistoria smirked, bringing him back on topic. “Of course I am, as expected.”

“I don’t want to lose you, because it would be akin to losing a part of me.”

“Aw, you sweet boy.” He stared into her a bit, then his tears rolled a little more quickly. He engaged into a deep hug with her, with Historia graciously reciprocating. She petted him with kisses, lulling him into a sense of security. They rocked the bed for a moment.

He tried to return to a sense of normalcy. He let out a breath, and kissed her wherever he wanted. She let out a sigh, in response. She forcefully grabbed him by the ear, and brought them closer. She blew cool air into his face. He was excited for a surprise, as his hands placed on her waist and no rejection of such movements were acted upon. Perhaps another twist of tongues. Perhaps another deep kiss.

“Eren, let me tell you something…” Historia spoke softly, to his ear. “It’s not your life to give.”

“What?” Before he knew it, Historia’s other powerful hand clamped back into his manhood. She applied pressure, and pulled into a bind, making the man screech into her neck. He bit into her neck, but she just rolled her eyes. His head lumping lifelessly on her slender shoulders.

"Shh. Don't shout. Don't disturb me." Historia gradually guided him to lie on his back, knocking off his feeble attempts to resist. She re-positioned themselves back into where they exactly were at the beginning of the night. His watery eyes looked into hers. The eyes were a window into the soul. Now it was he who sensed that her soul was in despair. "I'm going to have to tell you how it is."

“Eren, she is not your enemy.”

“What… Why do you say such words…?”

“And you do not get to tell me how to live my life.”

“I’m not-”

"Quiet. Your Queen commands you." Her fingers tightened, more robustly. “It was Ymir. The Real Ymir. She told me that I should live my life the way I wanted to, with pride. And it was you. The Real Eren, the one on the night of the disbanding ceremony, before you turned into this hot mess. It was you who said that we shouldn’t give up. We should never yield to the force of the enemy. Didn’t you say that?”

“Maybe-“

“I saw of you as a man, not as a child controlled by feelings. Don’t prove me wrong, and force me to refer to you as such.” She flipped her hair, and puckered her lips. He ignored the invitation, still wanting to push the issue. She blew a strand of hair from her divine face, then strongly nudged her forehead into his, causing him pain and ensuring his silence. She continued her monologue. “The point is, this is my life. I want to spend it the way I want to."  
  
A groan was her only response, making the Queen wink at him, pleased with her display of dominance.

"I'll make it up to you later, tomorrow, and all the years we have left. But my husband is right. You’ve been wrong about all of this, my child.”

The most powerful and biggest Titan tried to get up, but her fist merely cocked into a ball. His eyes watered not from emotion, but from pain. “So what if I am the world to you? I once gave up the power of “God”, offered to me by my father. I could have eaten you. Like this.” She couldn’t help herself. She nibbled his cheeks. She licked and taunted the Founding Titan, who was just a little boy to her. The little boy blinded by hurt and rage upon the hapless death of his mother. “I will cast my vote tomorrow, and it will be in favor of pardoning the criminal acts of the Female Titan, Annie Leonhart. It’s not the proper thing to do for a Queen, but it is the choice that would ensure the future of the children.” Subtly, her stiff fingers pumped his hardened Titan. She brought it close to between her heat. She alluded to him the dreams of what could be borne from them, if he merely complied. “If there is even a chance that this girl could turn the tide against Marley, then it would be worth it.”

“No…”

“When the adults make a decision, the children have to obey. Take it like a man, Eren."

"No..."

"You will respect Armin’s wishes.”

“I said no!” He opened his eyes. Now gray, then green, finally black. He played a tantrum, shaking his head and raising her chest with equal force. He pushed back. She pushed back. And they met in a stalemate, as their knees budged against their bodies.

“I won’t lose you. She won’t get the chance to kill you…” The little kid’s arms were pushing her free hand, and shoulders, of the woman to the edge.

“You want to know why that won’t happen?” She asked with a motherly tone, before proceeding to deliver the hardest squeeze of her palm that no man within the walls have ever felt before. He decisively fell on his back, then the superior snake stopped toying with its prey. It shed its skin, and pitifully caressed the little boy back into contemplation.

“Because I’m stronger than you, Eren."

She continued. "I’ve always been stronger than you, than Annie, than Armin, and everyone else.”

He couldn’t find himself disagreeing, as they proceeded to lock lips. It was heartbreaking. All the scratches, bites, and wounds heal. It healed because of his Titan power. But the likelihood that the Queen would be willing to sacrifice herself for the betterment of the people, was the element that stung the most. Eren did not want to sacrifice again, yet the small, frail, delicate woman who was stronger than him in bed, was more than willing to. Historia always was stupidly honest, and truthfully, Eren did not feel this hurt as he did on the day the Titans breached the walls.

But he was used to the pain.

Even as a little boy, Eren accumulated uncountable injuries from fights with bullies, and in his training days. He killed sex traffickers for Mikasa, a stranger that he felt bound to save and protect. Before discovering his powers, he was devoured and eaten inside the stomach of a Titan. Even as he killed the enemies, his own allies of humanity would shame him and distrust him. After which, these same allies labeled him with impossible expectations. “Savior of Humanity.” “The Hope of Humanity.” "The Last Chance of Humanity." His so-called friends secretly wished for him to fail. By the time people have adjusted to his existence, Eren experienced a crisis of his own. He subsequently realized that he cannibalized his own father, his mother was eaten by another relative, and he had an insane self-aware genocidal half-brother who was aligned with the enemy. He has the power of the Titans, he restlessly hardens without gratitude, and his own friends, Mikasa and Armin, are starting to leave him. Eren was a glutton for punishment.

However, he didn’t want to get used to it anymore.

If the story is such that the Queen would recklessly allow herself to throw away her life, then Eren Yeager shall not partake to be a slave to such an abominable story.

"How badly... how badly did I hurt you?"

"You were... you were very rough."

"Oh sweetie. You haven't been in my sight for weeks. Maybe even months. Did you think that I didn't need to remind you, of the dynamic of our relationship?"

"I... I don't know."

“I hope you understand, Eren. I am not actually sorry, but I am going to pretend to say so because I want to cheer you up. Genuinely." Historia said, in an apologetic tone. They cuddled. She was one panting now, since she put him through a ringer. She burped loudly. “Sometimes, I just go overboard. I get too emotional. Forget everything I said.”

“It’s fine.” Said the little boy who didn’t feel fine. “You were just being stupidly honest.”

“This debacle about Annie… Just think of the future. You’d be working with her side by side. Again. There will be two shorts blonds who will drive you crazy at night.”

“I doubt that.”

“But remember, there’s only one super short blond in your life, okay?’ She gave him a peck on the cheek, and one last tap on his unrelenting erected Titan. She was obviously too inebriated, to survey the physical and emotional damage she caused to the man in turmoil. Eren turned his head, and saw the sleeping beauty beside him. So cute, yet so distressed. It was crazy to him. Such a monster when awake, but such a defenseless creature when asleep. She was so pretty.

He closed his blackened eyes as well. He was in rumination. He considered seeking the help of another woman, discreetly. A woman who herself was, likewise, in deep turmoil. Eren and her haven't spoken at length, ever since the Battle at Shiganshina. But they were both sick of pain. The Commander of the Survey Corps…

Meanwhile, as the hesitant lovers wrestled for their fate, another scintillating conversation just occurred in the damp dungeon of Stohess.

“…”

“My father trained me, and I ended up crippling him. He told me that he would be there for me, when the rest of the world would spit on me. Don’t get me started on my mother…”

“…”

“Bertolt is dead. Reiner has fled. Marcel Galliard was our leader, but went inside a Titan’s belly instead.”

“…”

“It was inevitable, them being swept up by the flow. By now, Marley must be preparing their warships. Twenty-eight, at least. You have no idea what is coming for us all…”

“…”

“I activated the escape in my crystal. I felt something calling out to me. The time was ripe, I felt. But in the few days that I have been breathing within these walls, the People have shunned me, spat on me, and wrote damning pieces about me. The Church of the Walls label me blasphemy, while my backers are the capitalist and merchant thieves. The mock trial only served to further emasculate me!”

“…"

“Your precious military hierarchy has been plunged into an ideological civil war, and I am no closer to my Father, and my home of Liberio. I just wanted to go home…”

“…”

“I wanted to go home…”

She snuffed out the tears from her eyes. As Eren and Historia were frolicking in their sheets, Annie Leonhart had been pouring her heart out. She was exhausted, more so than when she chased the Attack Titan, in the Forest of Giant Trees. Her eyes welled up, her legs were sore, and her stomach was in pain. It was in pain ever since the meanest Ackerman knocked her in the underground, and prevented her flight.

The female Ackerman, concurrently, sat with discipline on her chair. They were across each other.  Her expression blank, but her resolve was firm. She hopelessly watched on as the imprisoned girl babbled bitterly about her life. She was expressing her hate, toward those she deemed responsible for her predicament. Her family. Her friends. Her enemies. _The King and the Savior of Humanity._ Those two men were locked in a power struggle. Everyone inside the walls saw it, and the nations outside would feel what would spill out therefrom.

Armin and Eren held her destiny in the balance. Annie cursed and whinnied, into submission of her own confused beliefs. _If I could only talk to Eren… or maybe I should trust in Armin’s design… This world is trash. This world is meaningless._

The imprisoned girl lashed out at the world. In fact, she blamed the world. She credited the follies of reality to everything and anyting, except herself.

There came a certain point in the night time, that her blue eyes of acidity drove itself to the other woman in the room.

“You must be enjoying this, aren’t you, beast?”

Mikasa stood up, drank from a glass of water that was on an adjacent table. She paid her comments no mind than she would an ant crossing the dungeon walls.

“Talk to me, Mikasa. The last two words you ever said to me was my name and “fall”. Surely, there must be something going on in that head of yours. Something composed of more than two syllables."

Mikasa sat back on her chair, retouched her hair, and let Annie speak to her own affair. It was visibly annoying the imprisoned girl, who sought to provoke her captor.

“It must be tearing you apart, isn’t it?”

“…”

“Your two best friends… Your two childhood friends are fighting. You’re stuck in the middle.”

“…”

“But let me tell you something, beast.”

“…”

“They’re not fighting over you. They are fighting over me.”

The female Ackerman gracefully rose. She may be the Female Titan, but Annie couldn’t help gulping and shrinking in her presence. She was a deceptively tall woman. Mikasa approached her bars, and let out a sigh.

“Annie.”

“Yes, Mikasa?”

“Annie. Sleep.”

“No.” It was her turn to stand. In cobtrastbto the boldness she felt inside, Annie cautiously approached the bars. “Talk to me.”

“Hmm?”

“You’ve been staring at me this entire night, haven’t you?”

“...”

For the first time, it was Annie who felt in control. She let out a sly smirk. “You want me, don’t you, physically?” She let her hand touch the female Ackerman’s breast. Then when Annie realized that she didn’t back away, she let her palm rest on it.

“I’ve seen it in your eyes, Mikasa. Your two friends are in a useless skirmish, over a fragile girl like me. I won’t even live long. In fact, all three of us won’t live long, because of the Curse of Ymir. With me dead, Armin dead, and your special Eren dead, who will there be left for the lonely Mikasa?”

Mikasa listened her words, and let out a sad smile. She never was the dense one. She shunned all preconditions away, and grabbed Annie by the back of her head.

They shared a deep kiss. It had been an impermanent one, but the most consequential that both the lost girls ever felt. The moans between them filled in the usual silence of the dungeon. They were moans of tranquility, and acceptance. In their clasp, they felt like girls who were found.

Mikasa backed off, wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, then turned her back to the imprisoned girl. Annie felt even more bewildered, but yielded to returning to her cradle position. Her arms tugging her knees that closed to her chest.

"You really are just a little girl, aren't you? Just like me..."

Before she dozed off, Mikasa turned back and delivered a speech.

“Annie. Listen.” It was a speech that contributed to the first step, of the imprisoned girl becoming a free girl.

“I lost my parents when I was but a child. I lost my home, Shiganshina, when you and the others breached the walls. I lost a great many things. Armin almost died, Eren is conquered by spirits, and the innocence of my friends have been withered away. Even as we vanquished the TItans here, or the Eldians, the rest of the world unconditionally damns the people who I have known, respected, and loved in my entire existence. I, myself, have lost my innocence.”

Mikasa continued, even with her head feeling a slight ache. She put Anmie's dilemma into her perspective. “You say that you are paralyzed, helpless against the greater flow of life. This flow has done nothing but take away from you. Take away from us. But there is one thing that this life won’t pry away from me, even in death,”

“Pride. I will never lose my pride.” Mikasa concluded. She let out a sigh, before closing her eyes. Annie shifted into a sleeping position, amazed by she didn’t know she ever felt. She experienced the previously unknown, awesome speaking ability, of the female Ackerman.

 _Pride. Pride, huh?_ Annie would soon sleep. Her ranting of indignation to be replaced by the repetition of that word. _Is… Is my Daddy proud of me? Am I proud of myself?_ Her eyes closed. Her eyes dried up, her legs felt rejuvenated, and her stomach felt fine. She dreamt of the ways that she can rise, endure, and fight against the flow.

"Thank you, Mikasa, for listening to me."

"..."

The imprisoned girl slept.

And as one character slept, another character was marching around in Stohess, getting out the vote. He who was King was putting his dreams into action. He wanted to make real the dream of an Annie Leonhart, to be an ally rather than an enemy.

“When you give us your vote tomorrow, your name would be in significant consideration of a promotion…”

“When you give us your vote tomorrow, I can assure you that the investigating body, the Military Police Internal Brigade, would desist from further inquiring about your drug records…”

“You will give us your vote tomorrow because I say so. Your King is in command…”

Armin spent this crucial night, with his two personal bodyguards. He had a bevy of five important executive meetings. He just topped off his business with the three nameless execitives. The King was shoring up support for a positive vote, an affirmative outcome in the trial resolution proceedings tomorrow. He charmed, gave concessions to, threatened, and outright bullied votes in order to attain his effect. Government administration was a tricky business.

“I will ensure Zackly that stays awake. I will threaten to have his art dismantled, but not exposed to the public. I will light a fire under his fat belly.” Dot Pixis assured the King, as they traveled inside a horse carriage.

“Thank you, Pixis-san.” The King replied, with a heavy breath. Sometimes, Armin feels like he was not up for this. All the politiciking. All the scheming. He enjoyed it. His eyes lit up when the thrill of the unknown crept up and the daggers in the dark were plunged. Yet he never thought of this as his profession. One moment he was sharing an intimate moment with a woman, Annie, who he thought he would never feel again. Another moment, he was hurting in the inside as he stared down his best friend in court. His eyes were gray, then green, then dark. Sometimes Eren’s eyes were yellow. And in this moment, Armin was gulping again, because he would have to negotiate with three of the harshest critics of his reign. _Jean Kirchstein. Connie Springer. Sasha Blouse._

The King missed the company of his friends, as rare as it was. Armin had not so much drank a cup of tea with Mikasa, ever since his coronation. He missed the moment when he showed a shell to her, by the sea. Armin was placed in a loveless marriage. He transformed into a Colossal Titan, and knelt in front of Queen Historia. The Queen was unimpressed with him, but the crowds went wild. So this circus repeated in every district. Morale within the walls, within the island, was high. The capitalists, merchants, Fake News peddlers, and even the Church of the Walls bowed their heads to power of the Colossal Titan. Yet the resolution of tomorrow’s proceedings threaten to lob the Eldians back into infighting.

“Pixis-san, how am I performing?”

“Your Grace?”

“Sometimes, I feel like I am still a little boy. Eren has grown to be such a strong, domineering heroic man. I bet that my best friend, Eren Yeager, never displays any sign of vulnerability. Mikasa is Mikasa, she who never showed weakness, even as a baby.” He chuckled for a bit. “I am just a little boy, curious about the outside world.”

“The outside world that seeks to eradicate every man, woman, and child inside these walls. Simply because we are born of a certain breed. The Eldian Breed.” The tone of the Commander of the Garrison was rough, and it reminded the King that he indeed was not surrounded by his peers. He was surrounded by his subjects. “Don’t be weak, Armin. I need to know that you can do this, otherwise I might have to reconsider what is best for the interests of humanity.”

“Right.” The King picked up Bertolt's trait of sweating heavily, as his face felt porous. Armin buckled his belt, and prepared to exit the carriage. “I am the King.”

“A man who says he is the King is no true king at all.” Pixis’ brows curled, making him look sterner. “You remember that I was against your coronation. You are indeed just a boy. You are a little boy and Commander Erwin would never had agreed to this. But it was your friends, Eren and Mikasa, who publicly impleaded their recommendations to the hierarchy. They convinced Nile, Keith, Zackly, and the other malleable royal advisors. The same royal advisors you tried to cajole tonight, and those who had the courage to say “no” to you, you threaten them with the sword.” Armin’s mouth twitched, and the two guards in the back awkwardly shifted in their seats. Before the King could speak, Dot Pixis raised a hand that brooked no argument. “Only Commander Hange didn’t agree, but I swallowed my pride because I didn’t want another civil uprising.”

“Okay. I get it. Thank you for being a friend.”

“I am not your friend, nor am I your caretaker. I am a friend to the interests of humanity. This gamble of yours with the Female Titan is absurd. I would rather agree with Commander Hange, and let the executioner be done with her. Just go. Commander Erwin was a real man. He wouldn’t act like such an indecisive lout.” And with that, it was Dot Pixis who opted to leave the carriage early. His bald head felt the taps of the rain, yet his eyebrows remained stiffened. His feet disrespectfully marched off.

As Armin stood under the murky clouds, he sobbed quietly. The rainfall and his tears mixed together, thereby preventing the guards from checking on their king, who was but a little boy. He was a little bronze boy, with golden hair, with a silver crown too big and too heavy.

Armin doubted he could live up to Commander Erwin.

He should had been the one to die, and Commander Erwin should have lived.

His party entered the building. The King was befuddled, as he appeared more like a deer in headlights. They were greeted coolly, they were seated thusly, and the final negotiations never went anywhere. Jean disgustedly looked over, as the King clumsily attempted to bring Connie, whose face was equally dispirited, into their side.

“Connie, if you vote in favor tomorrow, I can secure resources and consolidate efforts to the expansion of Ragako village, your hometown.”

“Nah, no thanks. I would rather rebuild the houses with my own two hands. My friends in the village agree. I will vote with Eren and Jean.”

“Well, um, you know that Eren makes decisions that are not always the wisest.”

“I know. And I remember Annie supposedly saving me from a Titan at Trost… even though she was the reason they breached the walls anyway. Besides, I owe him one.”

“That’s true. Eren has done a lot for us.”

“No. This is something else. He found a cure for my mom and reverted her back to human form.”

"Well, um..."

""Um" what? Seriously? Are you trying to find a way to convicne me to vote against the guy who saved my mother?"

"I... Idon't know."

"Don't do it, Armin. Who do you think you are? Commander Erwin?"

Jean's eyes beamed, and he interjected himself to the conversation. “Give it up, Your Highness. Your not getting any from us.”

“Jean, you too? Why do you hate Annie?”

Jean grit his teeth, and the guards exchanged a glance. “I don’t have to tell you anything, Armin. You saved my life once in this very district, from a shooter who chased us. But I won’t repay you by voting with you. I will not vote to absolve the Female Titan. Letting her rot in the cell with the beautiful Mikasa is too much of a reprieve, in my opinion.”

“Yeah.” Connie added. “Even Sasha told me that a pardon for her tomorrow, can lead to an appeal. She has Commander Hange’s ear. This entire thing with Annie can lead to the first ever decision by a grand court. Or whatever. Sasha always was the smart one.”

“Damn it.” Armin muttered, out loud. If it was Sasha who told that to her husband, then he knew that he couldn’t count on her vote. 

“Heh.” Jean lorded over him. “Are you losing your focus, Your Grace?”

“No. I appreciate your time with me.”

“Eh? What? No threats? Like the ones you gave out to the others?”

Connie asked, “No offers of food either? My wife would love that."

“No... No. Good night, guys.” Armin stood, pushing his hands off the table and he motioned to his guards. “Keep doing well.” He forgot the customary lines that figures of Royalty should give to the people, before leaving. Connie kept his head down, but Jean couldn’t keep his accusations hidden.

“Why are you trying so hard, Armin?”

Armin stopped in his tracks. He stood over them, yet he was the one feeling exposed.

“Because Annie… because... Annie could be a valuable asset to our team. To our people.”

“A valuable asset to the people... Or to you?”

The guards were about to draw their swords, and Connie wanted to leave. “Uhh, maybe I should leave, guys?”

“She can be a valuable asset to the ending with Marley.”

“You’re such a paper King, Armin. You know that?”

“Jean, you’re angry. Don’t say something you’ll regret.”

“You’re lying.” Jean’s fiery eyes bore a hole through his brain. “Let me keep it real for you, Your Highness. You don’t want to save Annie, because it would be for the good of humanity. You’re too selfish for that.”

“You want to save Annie because you want to slip inside her panties.” Jean accused, deadpan.

The guards brought out their weapons, and issued a warning. But by the time such proclamation was declared, His Grace stormed off in a pauper fashion.

Armin dropped to his knees, on the empty streets. The people weren’t able to see their King weeping, like the wreck that he was. It was such a terrible midnigt. Maybe even a period of days. Worst of all, it was still damn raining.

Armin bawled his eyes out. It reminded him of the time when he screamed in the woods, alone. His guards were behind him, unsure of what to say or what to do.

“Leave me! I said leave me!”

Their choice was made for them.

The King wandered aimlessly, under the rain. This was how Annie felt, the day that she escaped the crystal. Just thinking of her made him involuntarily rush blood into his lower body. The curious little boy knew what that meant, and chuckled dryly.

He slipped over a rock, and Hig Highness suffered a macabre fall flat on his face. He pounded the cement pavement in frustration, and his knuckles blew off. Because of his Titan powers, his fist would heal soon, but not his fractured ego. He was always magnificent of mind, but not of biology. Just like his frazzled spirit, his body was limp as the rain pounded away his noggin. He fatigued his throat by screaming muffled, for a consecutive number of moments.

He felt like a lost boy. He felt like an imprisoned boy. He felt like a boy at trial, because people will always compare him to Commander Erwin. He felt like Annie.

He wanted to do the right thing, but his entire being was in poverty. He sucked.

And then thunder was heard from the sky. Lightning striked. An idea went to the King’s head.

He could turn his poverty into strength, like he always did. He picked himself back up. As he jogged and sobbed, he reached his destination. This was a final gamble. Commander Erwin made gambles. And there was one person who loved Eren Yeager, but delectably loved the dearly departed Commander much more.

Knock knock. The door opened.

“Wow. You look like shit, Your Royal Bratness.”

“I’m here, because I think you’re about to commit a decision you would regret.”

“Oh? Do you have an appointment with me?”

This was the last conversation of the night.

Children were the future. The decisions of children impacted the future. And in this story, there were three children at the center of this hurricane of woes.

There was one troubled little boy filled with rage. He grieved for a path in which to preserve the life of a Queen, of whom he was sleeping with.

There was one mature little girl filled with pride. She smothered a lost girl into accepting her dungeon, the island, and the people as her new home.

And there was one short little boy. He had an appointment with the King, who was filled with hope.


	6. Civil War: The Eldians Vote of Twilight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Take a whiff inside these walls. The air’s always stunk like trash. It’s been that way for over a hundred years. We’ve always lived like shit. That’s our situation. I didn’t notice it until just a few years ago. After all, I’ve sucked in this place since the day I was born. I saw it as normal. But outside… The air I breathed outside the walls was different. Yes, life out there is hell. But it’s got something the walls don’t. Freedom. Out there, I finally saw what I’d been missing.”  
> \- Levi Ackerman

“My name is Annie Leonhart. I was deployed as a Warrior of Marley, to infiltrate these walls. I was bred to see you all as the enemy. I ate the same food as the enemy, slept under the same roof of the enemy, and I have loved the enemy. My past is my own, and I could not change it. Especially by myself. But the present and future therewith, these are different. These times are, without a doubt, under our grasp to mold, shape, and change.”

Annie was deliberating, in the center, of the very stadium in Stohess that she was being judged upon. It was a warm day, made even hotter by the tension in the court proceedings. The previous crowds re-convened, and they listened with anticipation from the girl at trial. They listened for any hint, any sign, or any signal of what could happen.

“It is true. All of it. We, Eldians, have been shamed and lied about. We are called illegal immigrants, radical terrorists, and devils incarnate. We have been predetermined as a class of murderers, thieves, and rapists. Sinners. Sinners, so they called us.” She continued, internally screaming at her own inadequacy. “Even now they shame us. They chant “shame, shame, shame”…” Her eyes froze, then peeked on her side. The Church of the Walls were giving her disapproving looks. She was about to fall apart at the seams. “But… But…”

 _Pride. I will never lose my pride._ She remembered what Mikasa said, as the same woman stood beside her, as a guard. “However… we are not sinners. We are not murderers, thieves, and rapists. We are people. We are good people. We are children, husbands, wives, mothers, and fathers.” She took a peek at Mikasa, whose expressionless face didn’t betray her sense of approval to her speech. The girl giving a speech straightened herself. “And I remember what my father said to me. The whole world may hate us. It may see us as an enemy. But he would always be there, at my side. I, Annie Leonhart, will always be there by your side.”

“Accept me, forgive me, and be my friend. I will champion us."  Annie concluded, giving a bow that was unsure. "Let us make Eldia Great Again.” She sat back down. To her immense surprise, the audience gave a raucous ovation.

The clapping and wooing was led by Hitch, with Mr. Stratmann and Flegel Reeves somewhat acting as middlemen. The former friend of Annie took many liberties with the audience. She seduced the capitalists, gave trade secrets to the merchants, and acted pious with the Church of the Walls. Whatever may be the resolution of this day, the People were less likely to entertain any conspiracies that would lead to a violent overthrow of the current government.

Boris was seen in a perpetual frown, as a forgettable man named Kenji bailed and walked out the stadium.

In fact, the only group that seemed bothered was the Fake News Peddlers. It seems that they were triggered by the phrase “Make Eldia Great Again”, made apparent by their obnoxiously loud screeching of their self-righteousness.

 _Virtue-signaling bastards._ Annie thought to herself, somberly. She was beside the two Ackermans, but only the Female gave her a sympathetic look. She did overly well with her magnum opus of a speech, because everyone expected her to blow it. But Annie did not stop thinking of the negatives. _The People fancy me, but their preferences won’t matter. It will be up to the King and to the Savior, and their pawns in flux…_

As the cheering of the Stohess masses faded, Annie’s gaze hardened toward the elite society. They are those who would formally pass judgement. The day was arranged with a strict procedure. The imprisonment, or acquittal, of Annie Leonhart was to be decided by the policy-makers seated at the dais, in front of her. Each person of prestige shall be credited one vote. Tallied vote results constituting the majority was a requisite, in order to resolve the status of the Female Titan.

 _My jury. My executioners or heroes, aptly lined up for me._ The King and Queen, wherein Armin looked worrisome yet Historia was checking out her nails. Eren closed his eyes, probably as not to dishearten her, due to it constantly changing color. Leonhart’s personal evaluator, and researcher of the 104th, Keith Shadis. The heads of the three strategic branches, Military Police, Garrison, and the Survey Corps. Nile Dok and Dot Pixis were present, yet Commander Hange was mysteriously away. There were three nameless executives. The nine distinguished surviving members of the Survey Corps, from the Battle of Shiganshina, were mpstly present.

Connie gave her a restrictive look, yet Jean was the one throwing her a death glare. _What did I ever do to the Horse-face? Was he still mad, that I said that I didn’t want anyone to think I was anything like him?_

Most of Annie’s questions went unanswered, but the question of her expediency would be decided. It would be decided with individualistic show of hands. Before they began, Armin tried to nod bravely toward Annie, but she did not feel the same confidence as she did before. Eren, she observed, seemed hesitant as to whether to look at her or look at Armin’s wife. It did not escape Annie’s attention, unorthodoxly, that the Queen directed a titillated pair of bedroom eyes toward the Savior. Like a naughty, ribald snake contemplating her meal for later. _Doesn’t that midget know that she’s married? But if she plays with Eren, that would leave Armin unoccupied. Unoccupied for me...? Annie, stop it. Be proud of yourself…!_

_Don’t I want Armin… or do I want Eren… Two strong men, and I am but a little lost girl…_

She visibly gulped, as the two men were seated beside each other in the dais. The fat man Darius Zackly sighed loudly. His art was confiscated from him by Armin’s two personal guards, and he forced himself not to consider converting to nihilism. He un-enthusiastically initiated the voting. “There are two choices. Vote to absolve, or vote not to absolve. All statements would be recorded in the journal for the public record, reserved to be evaluated for later purposes. There are fifteen possible votes, so a majority of eight is theoretically needed. Let us start.”

And so it started.

“I vote to absolve.” Noted one nameless executive, as a matter of fact. This was the one who was hinted at for a promotion by the King, in the night before.

“I vote to absolve.” Noted the second nameless executive, with vigor. This was the one who was commanded by the King.

“I vote to absolve.” Noted the third and last nameless executive, solemnly. This was the one was vaguely threatened by the King.

 _Three out of fifteen. That is like, mathematically, one fifth of the total. At least my defeat won’t be a total slaughter._ The girl at trial joked with herself. She had a bad feeling about this. Her dream of fighting for the walls would be interrupted, and that her speech was for naught. She might had been correct, because her predictions of a hostile takeover were soon manifesting itself.

“I vote not to absolve.” Dot Pixis fumed with dignity, nakedly betraying the wishes of the King. The people gossiped among themselves, and Hitch went into overdrive into trying to allay the agitated persons. Annie noticed that Armin had a vein pop out, and he surprisingly held back a tear. “Being in possession of the Attack Titan, Founding Titan, Colossal Titan, and the Female Titan sounds rosy, on paper. But so was the reign, and pacifist philosophy, of the prior Reiss hierarchy. We will not repeat the mistakes of the past. We did not win because of the power of the Titans. We won because of our unity as mortals! The fealty of this woman is useless. She was blatantly acting within the scope and the authority of Marley. An opposite of my vote would not serve the interests of humanity!”

“I vote not to absolve.” Mentioned by Connie, at the quiet urging of Sasha.

“I vote not to absolve.” Added by Connie Springer’s wife, who was holding an apple on her palm.

“I vote not to absolve. She is nothing but trash!” Complained by Flocke, who miraculously re-awakened from his coma. He said to himself that the sole purpose of his return was to ruin Annie’s chance at redemption.

 _Eren probably used his powers to rekindle his spark. Give Flocke greater life force to re-awaken. Every moment that Marley delays, Armin and his Court gain a greater usage of the Founding Titan Power. It is probably for the best that I already accept my place in this world…_ So thought Annie. But not everyone was prepared to embrace and kiss her. The sentiment was made apparent previously and will be made so by one angry man shouting.

“I vote not to absolve!” Shouted Jean, who was fueled and motivated by energy that no one quite comprehended. “I listened to her speech. She is right. She ate with us, she slept with us, and she forged bonds with us. But we won’t forget what she did. For every day she spent inside the walls, one person dies. For every friendship, another relationship was betrayed. For every bond forged, someone was hurt. If Reiner came back breaching these walls, we would not welcome him with a hug. We shouldn’t be sexist, right? Treat her the same way as a man! We will Make Eldia Great Again, but without traitors! Just kill her, and be done with it! Better yet, split her in half! Just like… Just like…” Jean sat back, holding back his own tears. Many were confused by his speech, to the point that no perspectives were changed.

Sasha comforted Jean with a pat on a back, and Connie was heard shouting “hell yeah”. The people within the 104th were starting to clue in, as to why Jean Kirchstein acted so erratic, and unforgiving. _Split in half… Half a man…The loss of a loved one… The loss of “him“ in Trost… The Leader of the 104 th…_

“I vote not to absolve.” Miserably uttered by Eren. And nothing more.

_Eren… My hot-headed Eren… Have I lost you, the same way that Jean lost his lover…? He lost his lover because of Reiner and Bertolt, not me._

“I vote to absolve. The Queen declares.” So declared the Queen, so noble and royal. Only Annie noticed the quick sideways wink that she gave to the Savior. _Was she voting for my acquittal only to irk him?!_ Annie felt like standing up, waltzing over to the chair, and taking off Historia’s crown just so she could smash it down her throat. Or better yet, shifting into a Titan now, and just stomping on her royal behind. As triggered as Annie was, her illustrative fantasies were begrudgingly addressed. “As your Queen, I have dedicated myself to protecting and nourishing all the children of the underground. Every child who felt unneeded, were fostered by me and raised by your government. This Annie Leonhart is nothing more but a child, in need of a proper Mother and Father. We’ll whip her back into shape, and all of my colleagues here who voted for not absolving her must have no heart. No guts.”

“I don’t need your pity, Your Bitchiness.” Annie spat out, but was luckily only heard by those of her immediate vicinity. Mikasa touched her hand, urging restraint. Since the commencement of the vote, Levi Ackerman had been looking down at the floor. He was seemingly uninterested in the trial proceedings. The Queen sat back down, not bothering to listen to Armin’s gratitude.  She merely leaned her chest forward, placed her shoulder on the table, hand on her chin, and gave a challenging look to Eren. It was as if she was taunting both him and Annie, daring him to do something. His eyes were looking at Annie, blankly.

Annie burrowed her eyebrows, in difficult thoughts. _Eren… Armin… Is Krista… Is Historia pulling your strings? I saw her as an empty and hollow thing, but if she was playing the role of the malicious mastermind…_

Armin stood. He delivered the same speech he did a few days ago, but with more mistakes and cracks in his voice. The King was constricted by nervous energy, and almost everyone saw right through it. “I vote to absolve.”

_Armin, you’ve always been special. Eren and Mikasa believed in you. I believe in you._

“I abstain to vote.” Believed by Keith Shadis, who everyone thought would take a leave of absence, instead of Commander Hange. “Annie Leonhart is a special person. There are special people in this world. I’m just not one of them.” Keith Shadis sat back down, and his confusing statement provoked a tongue lashing from every side in the dais. “I’m just a bystander”, so he modestly reiterated.

The people at the crowd were having a jolly time. Whispering to each other. The capitalists and merchants gambled, that King Armin and his desires shall prevail. Ironically, the Church of the Walls prophesied, that it was the will of Eren Yeager that shall be done. It was the Fake News Peddlers that were having a dreadful time, made apparent by their furious scribbling of their notes. They were twice as triggered because of the second use of the phrase “Make Eldia Great Again”.

Keith Shadis advised that the vote of his greatest trainee, and most consistent effective soldier today, would be most valuable. Zackly assented, and motioned for the Female Ackerman to step forward.

Mikasa stepped forward.

She looked at Eren.

She looked at Armin.

Her mouth opened.

“…”

Her mouth closed.

Mikasa stepped back.

The Queen snorted, in transparent derision. The female Ackerman was amazing in slicing Titans and cutting flesh, but she was as good a public speaker as Annie and Levi. She was overwhelmed by emotion, and refused the chances of shaming herself. She wasn't going to stand there like a fool. 

For the first time, in a long time, the people observed that the King and the Savior exchanged an intimate conversation. Armin and Eren were talking to each other. People haven’t seen them talk since the awarding ceremony for Shiganshina, as Flocke looked on with visible disgust. The conflict that raged within Mikasa reconnected the two men, who were embroiled in a moral feud. They didn’t want to see their friend, that they loved so much, stumble and fall. In plain view of the interaction, the people developed a greater sense of security. Eren and Armin in, unison, relayed their thoughts to the fat man.

“Zzzz… Oh, I mean. Let it be reflected upon the journal, that Mikasa Ackerman chose to abstain from the voting. No further words would be asked of her, if she so wishes.”

“Th… Thank you.” She spoke softly, that only Annie could hear.

“I vote to absolve.” Said by Nile Dok, with a straight face. Not one person in the stadium was either excited or disappointed. Because everyone, except Nile and his family, knew that he was a lame duck lackey.

As it stood, this was the State of the voting.

For conviction;

  1. Eren
  2. Jean
  3. Connie
  4. Sasha
  5. Flocke
  6. Dot Pixis



For acquittal;

  1. Armin
  2. Historia
  3. Nile
  4. Nameless Executive One
  5. Nameless Executive Two
  6. Nameless Executive Three



“It seems we are at an impasse-“

“I swear, Zackly! Delay these proceedings again, and I will flood Stohess with your ruined art!” Scolded by Dot Pixis, whose bald head turned so red, that he should had been called Dot Tomato.

It was an unequivocal tie. With the absence of Commander Hange, and the lack of participation among others, a growing inquietude was felt. It replaced the sense of security that was fortuitously built, only a few moments ago. The dais was pushed into a series of murky political maneuvers.

The King was jittery, neither peering to his left nor right.  Who should he talk to? What was his play? Should he try to convince persons from Team Eren to defect, or should he reinforce the support that he already has. He cannot risk losing a single vote, yet being a passive being won’t get Annie any closer to her freedom. He was still rocked by the doubt expressed by Pixis last night, especially more so by his naked betrayal. He wanted to stand up, and deliver a magnum opus speech just like the girl at trial, but his biology betrayed him. He ended up emulating his Titan predecessor. The involuntary sweat beads from his face were like bullets piercing the table, a la Bertolt had he been alive. Armin panted, and let out a wheeze.

Eren was in no optimal condition, either. He knew what he had to do. He knew what he had to say, and how to win over Team Armin. But he was paralyzed into his seat by the Queen, who never took her ribald eyes off from him. It was a strange moment, but not to them. They were mutually sharing a picturesque fantasy, indeed known only to them. The Queen, for her part, was tempted to ride and penetrate her Eren then and there. The high table would take the portion of the bed, and there she would be on top of his begging body. He would squeal for her, that everyone in Stohess and from Shiganshina would hear the crack of her firm fingers on his being.

 _Wait. What the hell?_ The mental images were somewhat picked up by Annie, who was so disgusted, or envious, of such scenarios. She was ready to puke then and there. She wanted to puke all over the Queen, to dissuade her from attempting to “mark her territory”. As the girl at trial confronted her girlish insecurities, Annie did not notice the murderous look in Flocke’s eyes. It looked like that he wanted payback, as he himself wanted to put her in a comatose state. Connie and Sasha were looking at Armin, then to each other. Jean was becoming impatient, and wanted to snap Eren away from his horny daydreaming. Eren would deny it, but he was lucky to have a mistress. Jean lost his best friend, and maybe something more. He considered revealing the source of his rage at trial. He would make a grand show of it, in order to end this charade.

Dot Pixis was pinching the fat man to stay awake, making very specific threats as to how he would desecrate Zackly’s art. Nile Dok, Keith Shadis, and the three nameless executives bleated. They were in virtual awe of their willing uselessness to the grand scheme of things.

Annie swallowed, and contemplated giving another rousing speech. Team Armin and Team Eren were at a crossroads, but the girl at trial was determined to drive her fate. But she noticed that her proud idol beside her, Mikasa, was hurting. Her forehead was pounding. Mikasa held her head, and Annie became discombobulated and thought of nothing more than comforting her. Annie’s stomach hurt again, and she wanted her guts to spill out.

But it was the meanest Ackerman, that hit her in the stomach all those nights ago, that sought to clear this day. The man that prevented her escape would be the man who guaranteed her freedom.

Levi Ackerman stepped forward, and raised his hand.

“I vote to absolve.”

“Zzz… What? What in blazes?” Zackly felt incredulous, both because he wasn’t paying his attention, and that Levi finally made sense to him. The crowds, as well, murmured that the grumpy man made a coherent sentence.

“I vote to absolve, Your Fatness!” Levi shouted, pissed off that the people of Stohess won’t give him a break. He really wanted to kick the shit out of everyone, even himself. But he took a deep breath, closed his eyes, then opened them to glare at everyone. He glared at the Savior who was his true love, he glared at Mikasa who was his cousin, he glared at the Female Titan who was both a killing machine, and a little girl at trial. Then he glared at the King.

The King was but a curious boy, who talked to Levi about committing to a choice that he won’t regret.

“I listened to the speeches. All the speeches. You all made sense.” Levi uncomfortably began, still resisting the urge to kick the nearest muleboy. “But I am the one who is going to make sense now.”

Levi’s eyes caught the Savior of Humanity, but the meanest Ackerman punched on. “I’m sorry, Eren.” He wholeheartedly proceeded. “You won’t agree with this. Hange-kun, and many others wouldn’t agree with this. If he was alive, my uncle Kenny Ackerman would probably confiscate my knives for this. Nifa, Olou, Eld, Gunther, Petra… Petra… Petra, most of all. They wouldn’t agree with this.”

“But Erwin would agree with this.” Levi revealed, heavy in is heart. “I always knew it to be true. The King didn’t have to speak so much, in order to remind me. Erwin would do all that is necessary to ensure the victory of humanity. Even if it meant that a mountain of corpses had to be climbed.”

The meanest Ackerman turned back, and returned beside his captive. “I vote to absolve. Because I think this is what would be best for the people. Or whatever.”

The shortest Ackerman shrugged, downcast at his own inability to cohesively express his thoughts. But to his immense pleasure, his eyes widened as the people began to sing. The Church of the Walls publicly shook hands with their nemeses, the merchants and the capitalists. Hitch placed a shoulder on Boris, and began whispering empty promises and sweet nothings to his ear. The movement of her lips turned his frown, upside down.

The people sang their praises, as Stohess recognized the point that Levi Ackerman wanted to get across. Levi didn’t want to smile. Because in the end, sensing now the dark side of the force rumbling on the dais, the meanest Ackerman wasn’t entirely sure that this was a choice he did not regret.

_He did not rule in favor for me because he had a crush on me. He likely didn’t even care about me, personally. He voted because he thought it was the right thing to do…_ _How can someone with such a scary face be so selfless?_

The two scariest people in the world to Annie, winded up being the most inspirational to her. The meanest Ackerman was once just a kid, in poverty and without food, fighting for scraps in the underground. He may not had been an Eldian, but Annie Leonhart related to him moreso than the majority of the persons within the walls.

Sensing the political tides turning, and hoping to switch his cloak again, Dot Tomato hurriedly urged the fat man to consummate the vote. He sought no reglementary period. “Zzz… Oh, I mean. Let me tally the votes!”

In Summary;

For conviction;

  1. Eren
  2. Jean
  3. Connie
  4. Sasha
  5. Flocke
  6. Dot Pixis



For non-decision making;

  1. Shadis
  2. Mikasa



For acquittal;

  1. Armin
  2. Historia
  3. Nile
  4. Nameless Executive One
  5. Nameless Executive Two
  6. Nameless Executive Three
  7. Levi



“I announced to those who would listen, so many days ago, that there would be no acquittal!” Zackly mimicked his exact movements. He raised his fist with vindictiveness and his face was stupider than before. “And I kept my word. There is no acquittal, and there is no forgiveness. But there will be an alliance! We will not forget her crimes, her destruction upon us. But she will aid us. She will help us… create beautiful art!”

Zackly banged his gavel on the high table, “So I pass my final judgement! On the matter of Annie Leonhart, she is heretofore absolved of her criminal liability as the Female Titan!”

The Commander-in-Chief was preparing to list off the other legal, minute matters that had to be resolved. He wiped sweat from his forehead, and clattered his teeth, and then realized that there was no noise emanating from the crowd. The Church of the walls were not singing. The farmers and fishermen were not buzzing. Zackly turned his head, and there he stood. Eren Yeager.

The Savior of Humanity was standing on his own two feet. His face spelt it. He was stricken, shocked, and shot. He was defeated, along with the group that advocated non-compromise and totalitarian annihilation against Marley. His vision of protecting both Annie and Historia was tested. He could hear Historia’s ignorant little laughs, belittling him as a man. He could see Annie’s tired eyes, sick of the troubles. Worst of it, Eren could hear his mother from the skies. Scolding him, pinching him by the ears until it reddened, and slapping him in front of girls. “Eren, you’re a man!” So he hallucinated. “For once, be the one to protect Mikasa!”

“Eren, it’s okay.” It was a soothing voice. Eren turned his head, and Armin was holding his shoulder. It looked like that Armin wasn’t too thrilled with what they had to endure. He was supporting his best friend, so as not to unwittingly fall off. His blue eyes inspired him, just like the day he told Eren about the ocean. But the eyes of the King also reminded Eren of his Aunt Faye, who was given to literal hungry dogs by Marley.

Eren was flanked. He was surrounded by the anticipating people of Stohess and, by extension, the People of Paradis. But there were five people of paramount importance to him.

His yellow eyes waded to Historia, who offered him a submissive look. For all the alpha behavior that she exercises over him, Historia had always kept faith in the strength and passion of Eren.

His gray eyes looked at Levi, who gave him a hardened gaze. Although his exterior was rough, his softened spirit humbly urged Eren on.

His dark eyes fell upon Annie, and her blue eyes locked with his. _If… If only we could have talked. One more time…_ They were both thinking of the same thing. They shared simultaneous longing, as the girl at trial and the vengeful little boy were unified in what could have been.

His green eyes went to the King, who was holding him. The two men had a relationship, that of which never met an unconquerable obstacle.

Then his eyes, _Eren’s true eyes,_ turned to Mikasa. Then Eren knew how this would go.

“Armin, why don’t you ever run away…?” He mumbled quietly, that only he, Armin, and an anxious Zackly were able to hear.

“Eren.” Armin pleaded, with love in his eyes. “We can run. We can run toward the enemy, just like you wanted. But we will run together. Only together.” Armin extended his hand, hoping for the best. “Just take my hand. One last time.”

Eren smirked, and for a moment, to everyone who knew him closest, he looked like the real Eren Yeager again. The same Eren Yeager that cockily smiled, as he passed the 3D OMD Gear training test. The same Eren who went into a fistfight with Jean, the Armored Titan Reiner, and everyone who dared to even touch him, or Mikasa, inappropriately. He was the same Eren that bluffed, that he could kill every last Titan on this earth.

“Very well.” He said. He took Armin’s hand, without hesitation and pretext.

With that show of friendship, there will be no civil war. The trial proceedings were resolved.

“Let’s Make Eldia Great Again!” Eren grinned, with a shine in his eyes.

The People burst into a chipper fit of laughter, as the Fake News Peddlers overloaded with salt. They split into stuttering messes. Eren winked at the King, as Armin’s buckets of sweat disappeared. In the center of Stohess, the two grown men hugged. They were merrily deep into each other’s embrace.

It was Eren who was the first to break off, Armin first to utter an apology. But something felt off. Almost no one felt it, not even Mikasa or the King.  Eren said no other word. He looked at no other blond. He descended the steps, and his colorful eyes gazed at no one, no more.

His public display of acceptance was not mutual, among his allies. The rest of Team Eren did not emulate the public grace of their namesake. Connie was swinging his hands, and shaming the three nameless executives into obsoleteness. Jean stormed off the stadium, even before Eren and Armin hugged. Sasha went out of her way to confront Hitch in the bleachers. Sasha knocked her out cold, with the half-eaten apple that she was holding. She thus settled the debt that Hitch started in the dungeon room, those few days ago. Galvanized by the mess on the dais, Flocke unreasonably banged his head on the table. A set of doctors was called in, without spectacle and fanfare. It was determined that Flocke, who was moaning loudly, had suffered another serious injury.

As it were, Dot Tomato was on his knees and begged for forgiveness from Armin. ”Commander Erwin would be proud. I am blessed to be your friend, Your Grace.”

The King wanted to go to Annie, but he was predisposed with the garish light illuminating from the bald man’s head. There were other escalating administrative matters.

The Queen was unamused, and decided to be ushered out without informing anyone. There were no children that needed to be taken care of, because her “plaything” had already left the dais. Zackly picked up his things, and was escorted by his entourage to the outside. He was off to further perfect his art, for the wars against Marley to come. Nile Dok and Shadis were just sitting on their chairs, happily sucking in air.

A festive mood was fostered. The Ackermans remained loyal guards. But the Female Titan who was once the enemy of the walls, transformed emblematically. She was now a local celebrity, and a prized soldier. Most of the persons, the farmers and fishermen and merchants, had started to walk back home. They were ready to spread the good news to their husbands, wives, elderly relatives, and children. But expectedly, the lobbyists came forth, like bees buzzing around the hive for honey. They expressed their outright congratulations and implied wishes.  

“We look forward to drafting new songs, and writing of your legends in the battlefield, Miss Leonhart. Our followers and singers would adore it. Bless you. And I am sure Pastor Nick is smiling from heaven, in approval of your acquiescence.” So said humbled representative of the Church of the Walls, in a strained voice.

“I never liked you, Annie.” Boris confessed. “But hearing your speech, and seeing how badly that the others went after you, I feel it would be unfair not to give you a chance. Levi freakin’ Ackerman endorsed you. It couldn’t get any better than that. By the way, did you know Hitch got knocked out by an apple…?”

“I know you broke my arm in a bar, but I was paid, by the King’s two personal guards, not to mention that you actually twisted it back into place. Thanks.” The man from the bar expressed gratitude, and unwittingly seeded doubt in the minds of those who overheard him.

“Annie, my girl. If you could help our people with the same efficiency that you aided my daughter, those rascals of Marley won’t stand a chance. They won’t know what will hit them.” Mr. Stratmann congratulated.

“Forget that. I heard that this girl almost kicked the head out off Kenny freakin’ Ackerman! I feel sorry for those mooks of Marley.  They're going to be sending out their boys against you, the actual Female Titan!” Bellowed by Flegel Reeves.

“Yeah, yeah. This is historic and whatnot, and this administration probably achieved more in one year than the entire Reiss line ever accomplished. In centuries, even. But I want to know the real story. The real scoop. The scandals! The term “Make Eldia Great Again” was uttered three times, in one day, by three controversial figures. Don’t you believe this phrase endangers respective journalists like myself? Doesn’t this promote prejudice against people we never met, including the Marleyans? Are you concerned that your behavior appropriates racism, sexism, homophobism, misogyny—“

“Alright, Jim Acosta. You’re coming with me.” Levi grabbed the Fake News Peddler by his collar, and he was dragged away kicking and screaming.

Annie giggled, and motioned gingerly to Mikasa. “If there were a certain race of people that needed the shit kicked out of them, it would probably be those guys.”

“Not everyone is as credible as the Berg Newspaper.” Mikasa smiled, likewise. “Well, well. Wow. Look at you. Annie Leonhart is smiling.”

“If you stare deep into the eyes of a beast for so long, you start feeling resilient like one.”

“Oh? Is that so?”

Mikasa offered her hand, causing Annie’s cheek to redden. She overheard the Fake News Peddler calling her an abomination. She was reminded of Marley’s propaganda, in hearing that same-sex relationships were for the slaves. It was forbidden.

But Annie didn’t care. She wasn’t a warrior of Marley, nor was she a girl at trial.

She was a girl who was free.

Annie moved a strand of her hair from her face, and held Mikasa’s hand with her own. “The woman who sliced off my fingers is holding my hand… How romantic.”

_This was a happy ending._

_Daddy... Father, I mean. One day, you will see me and you will be proud. This is my new home, and it will be yours too. I am friends with the King, the Savior of Humanity, and the two last existing Ackermans._

_This is a glorious day for Eldia._ Thought by the girl who would die in the day following, as her demise was plotted in a circumspect alley. The beaten Eren Yeager sinisterly shook hands, with the missing Commander of the Survey Corps.


	7. Wall Sina, Goodbye: Either Armin Saves Annie or Kenji Kills Her

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “The ending of Attack on Titan would be like the movie "The Mist". The intrinsic beliefs of the main character were relatable. But there were many challenges presented to the main character. These twists led him to commit choices that, in hindsight, were diametrically opposed to his initial intrinsic beliefs.”  
> \- Mr. Hajime Isayama
> 
> “When I learned the truth of what happened to my little sister, I made a vow to myself. I'd show them who the true devils were. If we wanted to set the world right, we had to restore Eldia to its rightful place. I believe in our ancestor, Ymir! We are the children of God, and we will rise again!”  
> \- Grisha Yeager
> 
> “Love someone in those walls. Start a family. Otherwise, the cycle of violence will just go on. Love someone in those walls… if you want to save Mikasa and Armin.  
> \- Eren Kruger
> 
> “Kenny, this happiness is ours. This happiness is for the People. One day, it ends. The walls will be breached. But until that day comes, we should be happy.”  
> \- Uri Reiss
> 
> “You know what we call the person with the Founding Titan, Historia…? A god.”  
> \- Rod Reiss 
> 
> "Please... someone help me... Someone please help me..."  
> \- Frieda Reiss

There was a girl who was free, roaming within the walls.

“… So, this super popular guy is still the Warhammer Titan? Willy or Vili?” Asked Hitch, innocuously. 

“His name was Billy. By the time we were deployed, he had ten years of tenure ticking from the Curse of Ymir. The Tyburs have inherited this power, and passed it only among members of their dynasty. He is also a full-blooded Eldian, but Marley and the other nations held him to a different standard.” Annie answered, remembering to the best of her knowledge.

Hitch and Annie had been walking together, around the lightly populated streets of Stohess. Three harmless children ran past them. Only dogs lined up the alleys, and cats prowled the roofs, as the crowds that filled in the Stadium were mostly unseen. A few farmers and fishermen bartered around, while the rest of the middle class and upper class went with the King and his Court. Duos of green cloaks with symbols of _Wings of Freedom,_ were worn by guards in patrol. It was near noon, and the clouds covered the sun.

“I’ll make my peace with Jean, Sasha, and Connie. I can make things right.” Annie mused, as she looked upwards. She was secretly hoping for the sun to shine.

“Uh-huh.” Hitch mindlessly replied, as she did not want to get sentimental.

“What’s bothering you, Hitch?”

“Huh?”

“I thought it was maybe, because Sasha hit you too hard with that apple. But we’ve passed four blocks, and you still look disoriented.”

“It’s nothing, Annie-chan. I’m probably just under the weather…” She placed her arm around her shoulder, and tensed to give her a teasing face. “I’m just really happy to be with you.”

If this had been any other time, the free girl would have noticed the daggers in their sheaths. Annie would have recognized something wrong. The first sign being that she was wearing her casual clothes and gray hoodie, while Hitch was in formal Military Wear. Annie didn't even attach a clip to her free-flowing hair. For days, Annie’s senses dulled and lulled. It was further weakened as Hitch’s nice lips whispered to her ears, far emptier promises and much sweeter nothings. Compared to what she offered to Boris, the words Hitch shared to Annie was tragic. Because, given the trap that she was leading the free girl into, there would be no possibility of acting her true affections for her.

“Anyway,” Hitch sniffed, as she put on a brave face. “What did you say about this guy? Mr. Porky Pie?”

“His name is Porco Galliard.” Annie corrected. “He was the closest in scores among the applicants, who did not receive a Titan power. He was the brother of my friend, of whom Ymir ate, as a pure Titan.”

“Is this Ymir the supposed goddess? The Original Progenitor Titan?”

“No, this is the one who always hung around with Christa.”

“Uh-huh. You mean the Queen?”

“Yes, the Queen…” Annie spat out, with disdain. “Does the King even like her? Does Armin like her?”

“Well, I'm not supposed to share rumors because it would be unbecoming of my "prestigious" rank. But word in the grapevine is, that she is submissive mistress to Mr. Big Shot himself.”

“Mr. Big Shot? Is… is this Queen Historia in an illicit affair with Levi Ackerman? Armin should know of it!”

“No.” Hitch leaned in. “It’s Eren Yeager. Eren is the bed boss of the Queen, at his beck and call.”

“Eren…? Christa is sleeping with Eren…?”

“Huh… so he really was the "fifteen-meter tall Titan" that you joked about, wasn't he? On the day I lent you the Carly Stratmann case?”

“That short blond bitch is cheating on Armin?!”

“Hey, watch it, honey. You’re short, blonde, and the other adjective too.”

“I don’t… I don’t believe this. I don’t accept it.”

“Yeah, he was kinda like Marlowe, right? A man of good fidelity... and a good package.”

“Yeah… People have really changed, huh? Maybe I should never have placed myself inside that crystal...”

“Speaking of those guys, I heard that there was another loser who can transform into a monkey?”

“Huh? What was that last thing you said, about Marlowe?”

“Oh, forget that. Say, not a monkey. I meant a beast, sorry. The Beast Titan? And this guy is the half-brother of this big shot, who slept with the Queen, who the Queen is friends with the girl who ate the brother, of your squad leader, Marcel?”

The questions trailed on a furious pace. Hitch intentionally wanted to make her companion dizzy, and Annie was too distracted in solving the puzzle of the Armin-Eren-Historia love triangle. She was too distracted from recognizing that Hitch, one of her last true friends, was merely using Annie to obtain valuable information against the formidable enemy. The enemy that was Marley, across the Ocean.

“Ah… very interesting. So this Pieck person was chosen for the Cart Titan due to her remarkable intelligence? This Commander Magath, in connection thereto, merely possess recommendatory power?

“Hitch… I know where this is.”

“He said you would… He said you would.” Hitch murmured, sadly. The women were in a corner, beside a staircase that went to the underground. There were no other humans in the area, as cats lazily yawned and dogs pawned off. No farmer was heard selling his poultry or no fisherman was seen boasting his catch of the day. Because of the sense of security that she felt being with her closest friend, Annie did not see that only soldiers, with the banners of the _Wings of Freedom,_ kept a safe distance on the roofs. The buildings were shiny, but the muck in their sides did not perfectly conceal the facts that these were repaired. This perimeter in Stohess, it seemed, was given considerable reparations.

The free girl stood, aghast, in the very same place that the Survey Corps attempted to capture and detain her. It was many years ago…

Without invitation, Hitch gave her a tight hug. Annie’s arms deigned to move, as her eyes started rapidly studying her surroundings.  

One step.

“I’m so sorry… I really am…”Tears welled up in her eyes, but Hitch didn't let them drip. Annie should be trying to prepare herself, but she was instead further distracted.

Two steps.

 _Hitch… you’re so pretty…_ “Hitch… don't cry…” Hitch’s hug felt tighter, and her hold was stronger than that of her crystal. ““She said… She said if I didn’t do this… She’d kill my family…”

Three steps.

“She… Who are you talking about?”

“Her… The Commander… or was it that freak? Maybe both of them, I got it mixed up-”

She pushed her waist deeper into Annie’s, as if hoping to prolong or even halt the inevitable.

“I’m freakin’ sorry Annie…”

“We… we can fight them together.”

“Sorry, honey.”

Before she could savor the moment, Hitch gave the free girl a quick kiss on the lips. She let go, turned back, and scurried off. After passing an edge, she was picked up by two Scouts of the Survey Corps. Wherefore, extracted from Annie’s life.

Annie’s arms fruitlessly hugged air. Her eyes were wide, her heart was pounding, and it was if her regrets tumultuously beat her up. The regrets were like a dark Spider. It was a Spider in her psychology, spinning a web around her fragile human form.

Four steps.

A shadow loomed over her. The dark side of the force inculcated, and rooted itself over the walled district city. She blinked rapidly, looking at the pavements for any cracks and hatches for escape. The clouds swirled. The soldiers of the Survey Corps ran to their positions. The winds stopped blowing, The farmers and fishermen were shunned away from the locality, and the dogs and cats insanely howled and cawed.

The sun never shone.

“Four steps. One step for each of my squadmates that you killed, in the Forest of Giant Trees.”

Annie didn’t consider turning around. Her stomach felt hurt, her eyes considered imitating Hitch’s, and she couldn’t help relating to the anguish of the damned.

“Petra, Olou, Eld, Gunther. I loved them, and remembered them. They pissed their pants on their first mission…”

The free girl was trapped, and so she was lead to it by her naivety. She wanted to fall on her knees, or make a gamble and run away. This wasn't an ordinary Pure Titan, or a gangbanger or kid punk. She felt like she was in the touch of hell, and she wanted to be swept up by the flow. _Who can stand against the Founding Titan...? The easiest thing to do would be to concede...?_

But this was a new Annie. Remembering the Female Ackerman, this was a free Annie Leonhart. 

Annie, with pride, resolved to go against the flow. Hesitantly, she turned around.

“The Female Titan.” The label uttered by the would-be killer, her Spider of Collective Regrets Taken Form. Eren Yeager foresaw the Death Spiral, and he was deemed as the messenger. “Armin did say that we should talk.”

 ---

There was a town deeper within the complex, adjacent to walled district city. The King and his court were in the loose town, deeper within the walls. Garrison holdovers and Military Men were in a flurry of movement, in accordance with standard operating procedure. Important members of the hierarchy were spread out, participating in public relations programs or further fortifying the barricades. The King and his court were in an open field, as the overcrowded plain was filled by the familiar faces of yesterday’s trial audience.

Armin was tuckered out. He had won a massive victory for his agenda, secured stability within the government, and saved face with the Citizenry. He still had the matter of his bitter friends of Team Eren, but they should all comply, given time. The ringleader, “The Savior”, shook hands with him, and thus the sheep would follow.

There was still one matter urgent to the King. He had to work on it before he could rest. Something came up. It was made apparent by the sudden unruliness of what occurred.

The King had been obliviously drinking a cup of tea with the Commander of the Garrison, as the latter endlessly explained the need for a Festival for the Female Titan.

He looked so pale, like he was fiddling the fine line with the ethereal plane. So much so, that he should had been named Dot Death. Just like the free girl, Armin had been distracted. The King failed to notice that Dot Death was merely filibustering. He acted as a transparent ruse, in accordance with the elaborate architecture by the Commander of the Survey Corps.

“Your Highness,” He delayed. “Nile Dok has his department corralling the Citizenry, into this town. He assured that no stragglers were left, and the Ackermans were assigned here to provide logistical support. The Evaluation Committee of the Survey Corps would arrive shortly, to provide their weekly report of our organization, defenses against Marley, and the state of our relationships with the neighboring countries. There are promising reports about the “East Sea Clan”, and there was positive development about the “Mid-East Forces” collaborating into a union-“

“Where is Zackly?” Armin pried, as he wiped a bead of sweat from his brow. It wasn’t sunny, yet he couldn’t shake off the urge of non-normalcy.

“Yes… We’ve heard that the Commander-in-Chief had been predisposed. It was discovered that pieces of his art had been stolen. You can presume that he is no longer feeling sleepy, with the way he was screeching at our underlings.” He lied.

“Okay, please invite him to us, once he is available.” The King sighed, seeing ashes of burnt campfire in the distance. “I really don’t think this is necessary. Zackly-san will back me up, but the last thing we need is an ostentatious celebration.”

“Your Highness, this is exactly what we need. The people will develop a greater bond with our newest “friend”, the Female Titan.”

“I think… She’s not ready for it.”

“She’s not ready? Or are you not ready?”

“Pixis-san, don’t go behind my back again. Okay?” He asked the man, who was about to go behind his back. “And stop with trying to seed doubt in my mind. This festival of yours is an empty gesture. And you know it.”

“Your Colosal-ness… This…This accusation is preposterous.”

“And it is an expensive one.”

“Your Kingliness… Armin. Armin, listen to me, my boy.” Dot Death approached him, and placed his slimy palm on his slender shoulder. “Our walls were able to avoid a Civil War. It was unmanageable. The rich were recently discovered as being armed to the teeth, and the poor was being riled up by the religious sects. The Female Titan escaped her crystal, and the winds blew in favor for us. But before that, the Citizenry were chomping on the bits to tear each other apart. Another coup was in play.”

“I… I didn’t consider that.” The King’s eyebrows burrowed, and his eyes looked at his cup. Armin was jealous of the non-moving liquid of the tea, because his mind was constantly running to study angles and ploys.

“You know what ended all talk of trepidation? Your handshake. It was your handshake with Eren Yeager that soothed the itch of the Citizenry. All possibilities of negative outcomes, washed away because of an “empty gesture”. The rest of the districts, and all of the walls, will be soon talking about it.”

“Well-“

“And you know it.”

“Hmm… You might be right.” After a gust of scrutiny, he could not see faults in the logic of Dot Death himself. He groaned, because he wanted the political power-grabs to be squished. Or stop, for at least ten seconds.

“Trust me, Your Liege.” So he walked back, the absence of light reflected upon his stale bald head. “This festival we are planning, will further your interests, that of the Queen, and that of the government and the Citizenry it serves.”

“I hope so…” Armin conceded. He left everything to him, and considered more peaceful thoughts. _When I reach Annie, we can solve the problems of the world._ So Armin thought to himself, optimistically. He hasn’t had a proper conversation, with Annie since their meeting in the dungeon.

“I miss her.” Armin submitted. “I miss the way things used to be.” With the way things fell in place yesterday, Armin knew that he could affix a commendable status quo. A status quo that would last forever.

He was about to bring the cup to his mouth, before rowdy shouts of mayhem were overheard. A half-eaten apple rolled to their sights.

It was Sasha, who had bruises on her face. She had dust on her ruined hair, as she smashed her knee to the stomach of a nearby Garrison holdover. Her clothing was in shambles, and her belt wasn’t laced on. She pushed and kicked around the retinue, and blazed through the court.

She fell on one knee. In the presence of the clueless curious King, and Dot Death, her ragged breathing made her look like she was in purgatory. “Where’s the King?! Where’s Armin?!”

The King rose, dropping his cup in the process.

“They’re going after her! They’re going after Annie!” Sasha screamed.

The teacup shattered, and the smartest King in Paradis Island expressed himself. “Wh… What?”

Many more of the Garrison holdovers were popping up, and Cloaks of Green clashed with the Uniforms of Brown. _The Wings of Freedom._ Due to Sasha’s run-in, many of the Scouts and Holdovers were compelled into taking out their melee weapons. Military men were unresponsive, until such time they were battered on the head with the melee weapons. The Survey Corps and the Garrison were showing their hand, as the Military Police was in caught without its breeches.

“A hand of insurrection.” Mused by the bald-headed betrayer. He threw his teacup at Armin, as the King held his face from the impact.

Sasha picked up a nearby melee stick, and whacked her latest assailant. “Armin, you have to transform! Eren is with her… At Stohess!” She was fierce, and her skills honed throughout the years have molded her to be unstoppable. Two other holdovers were put in front of her, and she batted them away.

Dot Death clicked his heels and spun toward the nuisance. He directed an order to his Advocates of the Apocalypse. “Execute, Contingency II.”

“The hell it will!” The food-loving soldier nonsensically argued, as she was nearing Dot Death. Upon hearing the words of the bald-headed betrayer, the two personal guards of Armin moved urgently. And these two guards moved to knock Sasha at the back of her head.

Sasha slipped, and fell right in front of Armin. He was rubbing his eyes, to remove the stain from his face. He could see clearly. The wool was placed over his sight, because his pride over the victory of yesterday blinded him from what was clear. There were clear signs of defection.

“Where…? Where…?”

“Don’t worry about it, my boy.” Dot Death approached the King on his Knees, flanked by Armin’s two guards who betrayed him. “This is a small-scale rebellion. We have taken great pains to ensure that none of the Citizenry is aware, of what is going on.”

“Why… why are you doing this…?”

Dot Death smirked, as the dressed-up skeletons around him were wrangling and wriggling for dominance against the King's Military Men.

“This is what Commander Erwin would have done, my boy."

Dot Death was the smokescreen. It hindered the King from seeing that the Savior had transformed into the Destroyer.

\---

“… Eren…” _What am I supposed to say? That I missed you? That it should be good to see you? That I was thinking of this moment, every single day, and how this would go. A million scenarios of how this interaction played in my mind, while I was in the crystal. A million roads of where we should go._ “… Eren…”

The Spider took steps to close the gap between them. His dark cloak was fluttering, and the street animals went away with each stomp of his feet. His lips were moving. He was saying something. But to the girl who was free, what she rather saw approaching her was an anima. It was an animal burdened with voices in its head.

“Do you remember that day?”

“The day we first met? The day we first sparred? What day?”

“The day you ruined my life.”

“… Well, you have to be more specific.” Annie couldn’t help spitting out a giggle. She was in the land of confusion, especially with regard to her feelings. The target that Marley deployed her and her friends to capture, was standing in front of her. _It wasn’t clear to Annie, but Eren’s aura and cloak of invincibility vanished at the moment he interacted with Christa. He was weakened. Tired. Vulnerable…_

She had to think fast. She can feel the web almost strangling her, smothering her into nothingness. “Ahem…” She feigned a playful tone, of which the Destroyer saw right through. “What are you talking about?”

“Let’s start with this. Do you remember the day that we almost captured you?”

“Almost, being the key word. How could I forget it? You put me in a crystal…”

“That’s not how I remember it.”

“Then how do you remember it?” The free girl gulped, but she matched Eren’s tenacity by taking a few steps toward him. It was not as far as the steps he was taking, but they were both measuring each other up. _Every inch, every movement…_

“I remember your long hair blowing in the wind, your bored eyes beautifully dazzling, and the way your thick thighs withstood the heat of the sun.”

“We could use some sunshine now…” She awkwardly offered. Her hands were fidgeting with her fingers. Only a few more feet, and the unavoidable clash of the Titans would commence. Her long hair was blowing like the cloak of his was fluttering. Her bored eyes pierced the ever-changing color of his pair of eyes. And her thick thighs felt heavier with every move that brought them closer.

“Eren, I really have to say this.” Annie swallowed in. “You look like garbage.”

“You always should had been honest, instead of lying to us everyday.”

They were one foot away from each other.

“The question is… am I still your piece of garbage?”

The clash of the Titans commenced, as the banging of the bodies caused loud moans and unruly shrieks.

Their arms mutually hugged, and their bodies were almost inseparable. These hands were swarming all over each other. _Every movement was for every inch._ They settled for their hands to grab each other by the back of her hair, and they took turns plunging their tongues deep into each other. Eren’s other arm was massaging and feeling the depth of her thighs, to satisfy his fetish. The free girl nibbled at his mouth, and licked his teeth. Annie’s completely turned red, as Eren’s usual lifeless body exuded to life.

Their hips relentlessly grinded. _Together they were strong, energized, and invulnerable._

Her hips suggestively rested on his, and she made a comment that unfocused him.

"Is that a dagger in your breeches, or are you just happy to see me?" She raised her eyelashes, twice. "It's good to know you're still big, Eren."

This was freaky. A freaky moment shared by the friends turned rivals, rivals turned lovers, and lovers turned to mortal combatants. But they continued the jarring jolts.

It was Annie who was the first to feel de-energized. Her lips and hips distanced itself away from Eren, as he was having the time of his life. “Is this your plan, Eren?” She asked sarcastically.

Instead of a reply, he inserted Annie’s nose into his mouth. Annie had a vulgar laugh, but extracted herself from such a grip. “Is it your plan for me to exhaust myself, so you can transform into a Titan and do whatever you want with me?”

“... You’re not wrong.”

“Thank you for revealing it. But by all means…” Annie tried to act seductively, and placed her lips to his ears. “Do whatever you want with me.” They returned to aggressive cuddling, even tearing off each other’s shirts and uniforms.

“Let me feel it… Let me feel it again… Let me feel those thick thighs…”

“Bite me, Annie… Bite me...”

“… Hurt me, Annie…”

“Your body…I missed your body… I missed writhing in pain for you, Annie...”

"Annie... touch me there... please... please touch me there...Yes, Annieeeeee...!"

“WHAT... WHAT THE HELL IS THAT IDIOT DOING? WHAT THE FU-“ A man with a long mane shouted, incredulously, as he stood at top Wall Sina.  He was surveying the implementation of the plan, with the binoculars he brought to his eyes. “EVEN THE SCOUTS DON’T KNOW WHAT TO DO! THEY’RE JUST STANDING THERE, LOOKING LIKE DWEEBS! WE ARE NOT HERE TO FULFILL HIS FANTASY! DAMN HIM!”

The tall bald boy was sitting and allowing his legs to dangle by the edge of the wall. He did not share the same passion as the man standing beside him. “Maybe… Maybe he doesn’t want to go through with it. We should have a change of heart-“

“No.” A one-eyed Commander walked between them. “The devices are set. We wait.”

“Commander.” The man with the long mane threw the binoculars, in a fit. “If we wait for longer, he can screw this up-“

“No, have faith. This is like when he fought the Armored Titan, at Shiganshina. We just have to believe that Eren will give us an opportunity.” She had a solemn tone, as a flurry of Scouts were cranking machines on the ground below.

A squad of Scouts were placed on the top of of the side of Wall Sina, that was directed to Wall Rose. It was opposite of where the action was going on, inside the deeper part of town.

Across the city, the eerie calm of Stohess was only affected by the noisy tripping of the mortal combatants.

The Destroyer and the free girl continued cranking each other. They rolled around the streets like cats and dogs. Her hoodie was discarded, and he wasn't wearing his pants. They pounded each other, and even trickles of blood popped out. These trickles popped out from the smallest, and unlikeliest, places of their biology. 

“See, Eren… Why fight, when we can have sex…?

“I… I missed you so much…”

She placed a finger on his mouth. “It doesn’t matter… I already know that. Mikasa and Armin, they showed me how to do this. Let me try it on you.”

Courtesy of Mikasa and Armin, Annie tried what she wanted to try. Eren felt like heaven.

“Eren, we could do this forever.” Annie recollected. “We can invite Armin, Mikasa, and even the short guy. I overheard this term in a bar… An orgy?” He threw her a funny look, and Annie couldn’t help hideously smiling. “We only have a few years left. With Bertolt gone, and Reiner in Marley… I just want to live my life… Live it with pride.”

“I love Armin.” Annie pleaded. “I love Armin. I love Mikasa. And I want you to be my friend…”

“… Huh?”

“My friend. Didn’t you hear me, Eren? I want you as my friend.”

"Just... a friend?"

"I thought you wanted me to be honest, Eren?"

"A friend... is that what you think of me?"

"Are you deaf? If the cost of preserving my life is to let your icky body touch me, then it is one I would gladly endure." She winked at him.

"Ann... Annie-senpai!?"

"I figured out that you like being whipped by women." Annie taunted, as if penetrating his privacy. "It was obvious to me."

"No... Annie-chan-"

"Only a strong person can call me Annie-chan, Eren?"

"... I'm not a strong person to you?"

"Maji-kayo?" She sighed dismissively, hoping that her acting skills were up to par. "Did you think that I would forget? That idiot Connie told me that he woke up one morning, and smelled something sour from your bed. You kept murmuring my name..."

"He's... He's mistaken."

"Telling a lie isn't what a real man does, Eren." Annie said, as she tried her best to imitate a dominatrix character. "You wet your bed. You had a wet dream about me."

"That's... a lie!"

"Oh, please." Annie mocked his voice. ""Let me between your legs, Annie. Please, I will do anything. Let me between your legs!""

"Your legs... Your legs are thick."

He fruitlessly shook. Annie made a face.

"You must had been so confused on why there was sticky stuff on your abdomen, and I heard from Armin that you asked him about it."

"My best friend..."

"It's called semen, by the way, Eren."

"What did... What did Armin-?"

"He can show you a piece of my underwear, that I gave him. If you really want to know."

"Wait, slow down..."

"That one is called a pair of panties... my child."

The sun wasn't shining, but Annie felt the embarrassingly immense heat emanating from her "friend", who falsely hoped for something more special. "When... when did he tell you about my dream...?"

"Oh? So you're now you are admitting that you did have a wet dream, about me?"

"When did he tell you?!"

"He told me that while he was screwing me in the training grounds."  _Is this working? Annie made up statements that she needed to, but she couldn't count long on Eren's fatal flaw._  

"Liar... Armin never told me anything about that. He tells me everything... This is a joke. You're stalling me." He tried to push off her shoulders, but Annie roped him back into a hug.

"You don't like me anymore... um, honey?"

"Cool it down, and get off me for a second."

_What else could I say...? hmm, Reiner was like a big brother to him. I'll try this..._

"You remember my friend, big bull Reiner Braun?"

"Don't talk to me like-"

"Reiner told you that I had a great... ahem..," She neared her lips to his ear, as if to share confidential information. A secret he thought that she shared only to him, but was known to everyone among the 104th. "He said that I had a "great ass", didn't he?"

He felt ashamed, and his guard was down. "No... He never said that."

"Actions speak louder than words... son. The way you stared during me at the first two years of our training... it was unbecoming of a real man."

"No, I... I..."

"Even Bertolt noticed. You were staring at my ass."

If Eren had a hot body before, than Annie felt like he was practically burning. She felt the infamous sticky substance protruding through the front of her pants, but mentioning it now didn't seem like it would carry on her momentum. "No, no I wasn't..."

"Don't lie to me... my dear." She was awful at playing an alpha dog, but he was a sucker for it.

"Yes... He did say that..." 

 _Gotcha._ "He was right, of course. That's why I let him tap it. Every night." For dramatic effect, she licked his ear in an amateur fashion. :Every. Single. Night."

"No... That's not possible... That's..."

"Unfair?" 

He pouted immensely, and it was surreal to think that he may had cried for a trivial matter like this.

"Yes..."

"Uh-huh."

"You can't blame me... Annie, you had a hot ass. You still do!"

"This isn't how boys should speak to a lady, Eren."

"I'm sorry, Annie-san." Comically, she felt the chatter of his teeth. He was practically a supernova, and she felt like melting with him. She made him so wet, as her breeches felt the running prick liquid soused on it.

"If you're nice, I can teach you how to be a strong person. For old times sake."

"Oh... Okay."

"The most powerful man on the world, defeated by a hot piece of ass..."

"What... What did you say?"

"I was saying that Reiner really liked tapping me. It's what helped him ranked second in class."

"Oh... Good for him, I guess..."

"Be a good boy to me... and maybe I'll let you touch it, okay?"

"... Promise?"

 _Really? I never remembered you to be this weak._ "I promise... baby."

"... Mmm..."

"It was no wonder you didn't know how to talk to girls, because you had no hint that you actually were one."

"Annie-sama... I don't know what to say-"

"Relax. Let me do the work." The free girl hushed. And she tried to say with sexiness. "Let me make your fantasy true."

He tried to resist, but Annie's preoccupied his own programming. His hand was guided to the back of what was between her legs, and she allowed him pushed upward. Upward toward his hardened Titan. Annie attentively checked his eyes, to see if it was working.  _Wow, this is priceless..._

She took advantage of his sexual perversion, of being dominated by girls. They were both on their knees, and her scary eyes looked at him. They were pushing each other, and it was a relationship of equals. But only a relationship of of friends. She laughed, giggled, and felt like a youngling who experimented. She didn’t feel like a warrior, a soldiers, or a killer. She just felt normal, like a girl writing her own story. She bamboozled Eren, and felt like she outmaneuvered him.

It was Annie’s spontaneous plan, all along. She wanted to railroad his intentions by distracting him with sex.

She smirked to herself, and she knew she can buy enough time for the King, or Mikasa. She trapped the Spider in his own web, and she would be swept off her feet by her own Prince Charming.  _You'll thank me later for this, Eren._ As she woman-handled the Destroyer, Annie congratulated herself mentally, like Armin drowning in his own hubris. Her last gamble was flawless, until inevitably, the free girl triggered a memory inside of Eren…

Absent-mindedly, Annie’s fingers went to worm between his legs.

At the first squeeze, flashes of combustible electricity whizzed in Eren’s mind. It was a wake-up call, and his eyes started whitening. All of Annie’s sense of caution had faded, and she freely kept squeezing, tightening, pulling, and twisting her fingers on the worm between the legs of the Spider. The Spider had an epiphany of desolation. One statement rang on his mind. It was a sentiment that reminded him of his insidious course of action…

_But remember, there’s only one super short blond in your life, okay…_

_She can’t do the things I do…_

_But remember, there’s only one super short blond in your life, okay…_

_She can’t do the things I do…_

_But remember, there’s only one super short blond in your life, okay…_

_She can’t do the things I do…_

“Annie… I…” He stopped kissing, and she soon noticed it. She was about pinch harder, but the Spider removed her hand.

“What... What is it?”  _Careful, Annie. Careful._

“Something is wrong.”

“Nothing's wrong. You like being beaten up by me, don't you?”

“You are wrong.”

“Really? You don’t hate me, do you?” She wanted to return to her rhythm, for their sake. Her hands looked for an opening and reached for his sweet spots, but he blocked each one.

“I can’t hate you, Annie.”

“You’re not telling the truth." She felt emotional, hot and bothered. The combination of psychological and physical exertion abruptly took a toll. "You don’t understand me.”

“Yes, I do. I painstakingly do."

"A strong person doesn'-"

"Abandon your childish game, Annie. Listen to me."

"I, I wasn-"

"You were stronger than Reiner and Bertolt, but you let them lead the way. You killed people as the Female Titan, but you attributed the losses of life to the tyranny of Marley. All your sins weren’t of your doing.”

“You... You really believe that…?”

“Be quiet, Annie. You were ignorant children. The ignorant adults imposed their beliefs on you, non-stop. As youth, you, Reiner, Bertolt, and Marcel were overcome by your elders, the same people that were supposed to know better. Those who were your mentors were those who led you stray. What chance did you ever have? Against that history? Against that time period?”

“Wow... just wow." Her hands ceased caressing for an opportunity. She was perplexed. The once slow-witted boy was now capable of such reason and empathy.  He grabbed her by her wrists. "You’re right…”

Pangs of guilt floated in her mind, and she may have been mistaken. Maybe she should never had deceived him. Not just now, but all those years ago. _Armin was the smart one, and Mikasa was the mature one._   _Perhaps Eren really has changed..._

“Eren, I need to tell you something… I haven’t been straight with you-“

“I can’t hate you, because something to be hated must be something.”

“Hu… Huh?”

“You were a girl that took no responsibility. Accepted no accountability. Therefore, you are a girl of nothing.”

“What are you saying…? Eren?”

“I can’t hate you, because you’re just a puppet.”

Her bawdy palms rested on his shoulders. One hand of his rested on her waist, and the other on her breast. Her eyes blinked, and looked at his. The Eldians were called this derogatory term for generations, but it was only now that Annie truly felt like she was staring at the gates of the underworld.

He snapped out of her hypnosis.

His voice was altered. "It's time for your curtain call, monster."

\---

Dot Death was consulting with his Riders of Ragnarok. The grass of the plains rippled under the darkened sky, as the last sounds of physical conflict were dwindling away. Sasha’s toned, muscled body was injured. She was lying on her back, as the crippled King was comforting her.

“I’m sorry, Armin.” Sasha’s wrecked face murmured. Her hand tried to hold Armin’s. “I was too… I was blinded, by my anger.”

“Shh. Conserve your strength, Sasha.”

“No. I need to tell you.” Sasha sat up, weary of the additional hits that she was pummeled with, at the command of Dot Death. “Connie woke me up last night. He said that Jean pushed him, but it was Commander Hange’s ideas…”

“Hange-san? We… I haven’t seen her in months. I thought she was by the sea.”

“We thought so, too. Look, Armin. I never liked Annie, but I thought we had a trial. I intended to honor the vote.”

“For all the good it did us-“

“I didn’t want to be a part of what they wanted. I couldn’t be a part of what they wanted.”

“… What did they want?”

“Death. The Death of Annie Leonhart.”

Frustrated, the King moved his hand away from hers. Sasha looked at him, in vain, and wished to tell him to stop being weak. _We need the Colossal Titan,_ so they both thought.

“Damn it. Damn this all.” Armin perspired, and struggled to inhale. “I’ve forsaken my duties, I lost control of a government, and the woman I saved is about to be killed by my best friend. None of my gambles… None of my gambles were profitable.”

He started chucking madly to himself, but Sasha lightly slapped him on his cheek. She grabbed him by his hair. “Armin, we need the Colossal Titan. Wake him up!”

“But… But we’re not sure if-“

“Shut up, Armin! We need the Colossal now!”

“But the explosion, you’d be caught in it…”

"Just get it up, Armin!"

She grit her teeth, but decided to appropriate the bravado that the King usually exhibited. “Forget about me, stupid. You have a girl and a people to sav-“

A Garrison holdover yanked Sasha away, by her ruined hair. She was thrown to the clutches of one of Armin’s tough guards.

Armin exhaled, but no air came out. He was losing oxygen to his brain. At the start of the morning, he was a King. At the middle of noon, he was a prisoner.

He didn’t know what to commit, so he committed to standing instead. He was idle, but the Zombie Scouts noticed, and comfortably stalked to him.

“Don’t make this harder on yourself, my boy.” Dot Death professed. “It will be over soon, and we will install a better hierarchy.”

“…”

The clutches of the abyss were circling him, but Armin did not run off. Even when he was no King, Armin never ran away. When he was but a curious little thing, Armin never ran away. Sasha looked on, desperate. His eyes were crazed, and he placed his balled fist inside his aperture.

“Hmph. I dare you, my boy.”

“You underestimate me… Don’t test me… I’m warning you…"

“You’re weak. You won’t risk our lives.”

"You really think...? You really think I won't do it...?!"

"Being the King Who Ran is better than the King Who Died. The People will mourn you, and you will surely be a martyr. Is tarnishing everything we accomplished worth it?

Armin stretched, and spoke his motto. “If you want to change something… you have to be willing to sacrifice everything.”

There was a tinge of terror in Dot Death himself, as he took a step back with his hands up in the air. The Zombie Scouts exchanged glances, and a few were tempted to switch sides. The betrayer regained his composure, and felt emboldened and reckless enough to dare His Highness. “You don’t have the gall, my boy. You are no Commander Erwin.”

“I beg to disagree, Your Baldness.” A mysterious short man insisted. Dot Death shrieked.

Levi Ackerman swooped in, clutched the Grim Reaper by his neck, and slammed him down to the grass.  Heichou rolled over forward, jumped high, and smashed his knee to one of Armin’s tough guards. The result was the knocking off of one, as Sasha took that as a signal to knock off the other. In successive fashion, other Cloaks of Green circled the area, and started brawling with the other Cloaks of Green. The double-crossers were taken aback. _The Wings of Freedom were Wings of InFighting._

Levi Ackerman was exercising his expertise: kicking the shit out of everyone.

The brawls died down. Sasha was handed a jug of water by a Scout, of which she was too fatigued to accept. The meanest Ackerman marched straight to the King, and snapped him out of his trance. “What the hell is going on?! Who is responsible for this?!”

“… I… I don’t know…”

Armin stumbled, but Levi held him by his shoulders.

“I don’t have time for this.” He raised two pointed fingers to the air, and swirled them in a circular motion. He barked orders around, and a perimeter of security was being arranged. “What should we do? What’s our plan?”

“Mikasa… Where’s Mikasa?”

“She’s with the Queen.”

The King felt emaciated. Armin’s head pounded, just like it usually did for Mikasa. These were strenuous situations.

“How… How about Commander Nile Dok? Instructor Shadis?”

“Shadis rode back to Trost. I can’t reach Nile and his lieutenants; they're further inside the town.” Levi disentangled himself from the King, and stalked the downed rebels. He considered firing a flare gun for a signal. A signal for anything. A signal for hope. “Shit… shit...”

Across them, another conversation was to put off.

“Why’d you do it?” Sasha, in her ruined uniform, seriously asked Dot Death. “What will you tell yourself at night, knowing that you caused so much anguish?

He was on all fours, but he defiantly raised his bald head to meet her.

“Everything I did… I did for the best interests of humanity.”

“Well, isn't that fine and dandy? Now take a nap.” She smashed her muscular leg on his bald-head, thus ensuring that the betrayer complied with her recommendation.

"We won't be hearing more from him." She exhaled air, and bopped her knees together to increase blood flow and improve the circulation thereof.Sasha instructed one of the allied scouts, who bowed his head. “Make sure nothing happens to him." He took him away,  as she turned her neck. In her sight was an Agitated Ackerman and the Crumbling King.

“Good work, Sasha.” Levi complimented, upon her approach.

She shrugged her shoulders, and observed, to her melancholy, that the King was mute and unmoving. He stood there like a mannequin.

Sasha asked, with hands on her hips. “What now, Heichou?”

“The question is… What would Shitty Glasses do…?” He asked himself, unaware that they were in this predicament because of Shitty Glasses.

Sasha bit her tongue, and looked downcast. ”Heichou… This faulty coup, Annie Leonhart is the reason."

“Annie!”

Levi and Sasha looked at the source of the sound. The King, upon hearing the name, instantly developed a determined outlook.

“Armin…?”

The King went into commando mode, and picked up a Green Cloak. He wore it, and his confidence swelled. “Levi, stay here and regain control. Subdue the holdovers. Sasha, rendezvous with Mikasa and Historia. I will handle this. I will end this.”

Before he could hear dissent, the King ran off. He wasn’t going to let his own poverty prevent him from saving a life. Annie did not deserve to die because of his mistakes. He ran as fast as he could, with his pair of eyes contorted to an unprecedented level of craziness.

“Annie, I’m on the way.” So promised the Colossal Titan, who will be unable to rescue the Female.

\---

“You’re weak!” Annie’s nose was bitten. It was actually removed from her face, as the tiny brittle bones dropped out.

“You’re stupid!” His fingers clamped her teat, and pulled roughly therefrom. He tore off the skin, and the wind felt the naked exposure of her bruised breast.

“You’re nothing! You’ve always been nothing!” His fingers clawed deep into her hips, and he macabre ripped off one of her inner kidneys.

Only Annie’s thick legs remained untouched, but she was too damaged to make use of them. She couldn’t run. She couldn’t fight back. The Spider’s fangs bit deep into her shoulder blade, then ripped it off. Bit deep into her elbow, and tore off her skin. He sunk his teeth into his heart, pulled off, and final few pumps were beating.

Eren’s palm went to her face, and he pushed her off. She slid a few feet away, and she fell on her backside. Her bored eyes were now panicked eyes, as she looked down on her barely functioning body. She was too scared to shift, she was too fatigued to form another crystal safe zone. Her eyes ominously flickered to the Spider, and it was ready to destroy. She set about yelping gibberish.

“Eren… my friend…”

“You pissed me off for the last time, Female Titan.”

"When you first found about me... being a Titan, you didn't believe it. You denied it, right?! You wanted me to come with you, to the underground!"

"You will die."

“You’re my friend, Eren!”

“Eren Yeager is gone.” Rasped the thing that was no longer Eren Yeager.

“It’s the Founding Titan… It’s corrupted you. Turned you into something you hate. Fight it!”

“If you can’t fight…” The veins of his neck popped, and the color of his pupils went haywire. "You can't win."

“I fight to restore Eldia.”

Across the distance, the man with the long mane raised his fists, galloped, and hollered in triumphant celebration.

“I fight for the people of Eldia, to restore her motherland to its rightful empire.”

Across the distance, the tall bald boy emitted an air of melancholy.

“I fight for love, for the sake of Mikasa and Armin.”

Across the wall, deep inside town,  the uninterested Queen observed the Female Ackerman feeling a disturbance, as the head of the latter thumped more persistently than ever before.

“I fight for the happiness, of the people of these walls.” He brought his hand to his overbite.

Across Wall Sina, the one-eyed Commander gave a signal to her wayward scouts.

“Eren…” Annie, stripped of her body, mind, and spirits. "It’s me. Please recognize me. I’m sorry…for everything.”

Tears uncontrollably rolled down, as it mixed with blood and salt. Her sprained left hand covered the hole left in her waist, and her right wrist attempted to shield her bosom. 

“Eren Yeager is dead.” He sunk his teeth deep into the back of his palm, drawing blood. “Because I am a god.”

And beyond the grave, trillions of departed Eldians plagued ed the quintessence of a Destroyer.

“No…”

The rays of the sun refused to shine, as cartilage and flesh were borne.

The Spider that claimed to be a god, was to transform into the last Titan that the free girl ever encountered. Her last gamble didn’t work. Her pride led to her fall. Her Prince Charming, the “Great King Armin”, was of nowhere. She would never reunite with Hitch. Despite the grand trial, and in the damp streets of Stohess, Annie was sentenced to die. This was the story. This was the flow. In the few seconds that she had left, the free girl reflected on her sad life. _Father,_ _I need you... I need you to bring me back to life..._

She committed to a choice. A choice that she couldn’t regret.

“No… I’m not dying, you hear me?! I’m not dying!” So were the final statements of the Female Titan, before her dying. As her blue stern eyes balled her opponent, she herself transformed and obstinately stood against the flow.

The real trial of life and death was soon to be adjourned. Of which when the smoke cleared, and her eyes analyzed the creature in front of her, the Female was convinced that there really were devils that crawled out of the netherworld. 

\---

This was not a fair fight.

Annie was the master of hand-to-hand combat. But she came to regret the teachings that she extended to her favorite student. He clearly utilized to perfect effect, as he parried every kick with his fists, and shattered her hardened attacks with his own. He displayed a litany of new abilities. He made claws on his fingers, he himself displayed his unlocked hardening powers, and he uncannily set off steam from his skin. He had the powers of Reiner, Bertolt, and Annie, but none of the superficial scars. None of the flaws.

He had her on the run, as she slipped and hid behind buildings that were soon crushed to debris. She made careful not to step on any of the leftover Citizenry on the streets, but Eren Yeager gad blood shot up his mind. He was stomping on farmers with his right foot, fishermen on his left. The cats, dogs, and children wailed in witless woe.

Even she couldn’t have prepared for the unpredictable, because the Attack Titan looked nothing like the Attack Titan. It was twenty meters tall, five meters taller than the last time. Its chest was wider, and its teeth were sharper. Where once Annie had larger muscles than Eren, the Attack Titan’s biology was far superior to that of the Female. Annie knew it, and he knew it. With every jab, he consciously utilized less muscle mass for speed. With every uppercut, he consciously utilized more muscle mass for power. The Female had not landed a single clean hit, yet the Spider had been spinning around and toyed with its meal.

Uncharacteristically to Annie, he was fighting smarter, too. The Attack Titan scratched her shoulder, aggravating the injury she sustained while she was in human form. He aimed jabs at her waist, bumped her breast, and once landed an uppercut flat on her nose. _He wants to multiply the damage he caused to me, while we were in human form…_

Worst of it, the Attack Titan never shut the hell up. It shouted to its heart’s content and screeched his unintelligible war cry. His lungs have been very durable, the Female Titan found time to muse to herself, before being pushed into a tower of concrete. If the people of the walls weren’t aware of the fight, then they would soon hear so because of the constant wails of a maddened animal. The Female lost ground, because she developed sudden high-pitched tinnitus.

 _I can’t keep this up. I have to suffocate him._ Annie tried to go for his neck, the same way that Eren subdued Reiner on the day that he and Bertolt revealed their secrets. These were secrets of treachery. Eren remembered fully well the blows of those bastards, so he easily saw through Annie’s movements. He caught her, raised her up, and threw her across the city. Nonchalantly, the Female landed with a thud.

She tried to get to a vertical position, but her head was smashed in by a running kneecap from the Screaming Spider. She rolled to her back, but the Attack Titan was quick to engage. His fist raised high, she saw her life flash, but she managed to weave to her immediate side.

She was backed into a corner. The Female caught in the corner of her eye of where she was. She curved her neck, and her sensations were troubled as she realized that she stood behind the Stadium. Beneath the structure, was the dungeon of which she was detained.  _I thought I was free of this place._   _The same stadium of which I was judged upon-_ Whack. Her introspection was interrupted, as the Attack Titan landed a sloppy jumping jab across her face. At her usual self, she could have easily parried it, like before in their recent fight. But because of the series of events taking their toll. the Female's carcass shot backwards. And with her dragged body, the of the grandeur of the Stadium turned to rubble. 

Ad interim, the scouts assigned to assist the Attack Titan were in disarray. The Green Cloaks couldn’t comprehend the chaos. The Clash of the Titans was too cumbersome, as a few squads of Military Men broke through from the inner town and caused a ruckus. Their forces were divided, and those that didn’t participate in the defense against the Military Men became fodder. These scouts were complacent, and instead decided to try to protect as many of the Citizenry as possible. Many ended up being caught in crossfire, as a number of scouts ended up being smidges on the heels of the mortal combatants. The Green Cloaks becoming stuck to the soles of their feet.

“… There goes another one.” The tall bald boy reflected, with rising hesitation. ”They’re really going at it, and Annie hasn’t fared any better. He’s really serious.”

“He should be. The results of the experiments that Commander Hange conducted with Eren should make him unbeatable. Half the pain she feels by his hand, won’t even make up a quarter of the wrong she’s done. Go, Eren! Split her in two!”

His claws dug deep into her head, and forcibly took off her scalp. The strands of yellow hair fell upon the pavements. Groggy, she fell backwards, the spine of the Female was brought to the knee of the Attack. Her eyes were rolled over, and her once ruthless face was rendered lackadaisical. With his two hands, the Attack Titan raised her body, and threw it down to his kneecap. He repeated such act. Again. Again. And again. 

“RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!”

“Eren really must enjoy this, huh…? Claiming his revenge...?"

  
“No, Connie. He is doing what has to be done, even when it is hard or impossible.” So the man with a long mane tried to rationalize, to justify his complicity to the inhumane. “He carried the boulder at Trost. He trusted in the first Levi Squad, and his trust led to their deaths. We defeated Rod Reiss at Orvud district, fought at Shiganshina to his last breaths, and was humiliated at every turn. He felt useless. But to me, to us, and for “him.”” “Him” referred to the leader of the 104tth. “The Suicidal Bastard was anything but useless, and he made faces as the people increasingly asked more of him. It was a face of duty, and not of a person who found joy in his offenses.”

The back of the Attack Titan’s fist collided with her jaw. The Female stumbled, and tried to throw a blind punch. But the Attack caught her arm, and he initiated a maneuver. Ironically, the was the first move that Annie taught to Eren. It was the same one that he used on man with the long mane, so many years ago.

“I never knew you to be so eloquent, Jean.” The tall bald boy admitted. “You must be right.”

In truth, neither of them were right. The Real Eren Yeager was lost, within the paths. The concepts of time and space were void to the hosts of the Founding Titan, so what was unknown to everyone was the well-being of this man. He had the face of Eren, he had the walk of Eren, and he sounded like Eren. But his expressions were not his, his swagger not his, and his choices of words were most certainly not his.

In truth, ever since they learned the truth of this world at the basement of the Yeager household, staggered waves of undeniable personalities occupied the head of the man. He was lost in the paths. These were neither angels, nor demons. But these were wills that were none of his own. With each passing day, he spoke less like himself, and acted more like the descendants of old.

In truth, the Attack Titan that was one-sidedly Titan-handling the female was the sum of his whole. The predecessors in the paths broke the taboo, and attempted to redirect the energies of the latest host. The host relayed the endless fury and resentment of Grisha Yeager. He channeled the mutinous stubbornness of Eren Kruger. He exploded the inner disdain of the status quo harbored by Uri Reiss. These were three personalities, but imagine three hundred other predecessors subtly, and even sometimes blatantly, attempting to guide his will.

His eyes were green like Grisha Yeager's. His eyes were gray like that of the Reiss'. And his eyes, at intervals, were yellow like that of Kruger.

And the eyes of the Female Titan became black and blue, as the Attack threw stones at her eyes.

Most unfortunately, Marley must had been laughing, breathless. As his fists actually knocked teeth of the Female's mouth, the behavior displayed by the host helped prove the case of the enemy. They were fulfilling their black propaganda. The abusive actions exhibited was contributing to the perspective that Eldians truly were brutes. They were killers, murderers, thieves, and rapists. These were people in need of Paradise, sanctioned off from the rest of the planet.

Eren Yeager was an Eldian. He who was ignorant to the fact that he swore to kill every last Eldian. He was killing one Eldian right now, as his claws scraped off a portion of her foreskin. Within, the current host found solace with Frieda Reiss, however. She was dead, too. She was the older half-blooded sister of the Queen. They were just persons way over their heads, who sincerely required help.

This was no longer about saving Annie, or even helping Historia. This was the case of intrinsic beliefs that faced endless challenges and trials. These beliefs were thrown into the whirlwind of terror. These were was spat out and morphed into something that didn't even resemble the original beliefs, at all. This was the truth of the world. There were no Knights in Shining Armors or Barons of Bale. No Just Justice or Pure Evil. A thing can either be a devil or a god, and it takes just one person to claim so.

Eren Yeager bluffed when he made a claim. He claimed that did not need help, or aid. Partly, in the regulation of his powers, he already claimed a foothold among the spirits. He coached from the his perch. Although he was lost, his willpower remained. That was the reason that the host kept certain fetishes, certain affections, and certain qualities.

In whole truth, there was one quality that ruled over the rest.

One personality, of the Real Eren Yeager, to enslave the predecessors to his core beliefs.

Rage. Heavy, Metal, Rage.

Rage against those who threatened to oppress, or take away their righteous freedom.

“RAAAAAAAAAAGH!” The Attack Titan roared, as last vestiges of the girl’s freedom were leaving her. Her face was facing the ground, her back was sat on by the Attack Titan, and they both realized that they were in the same position as when Annie put herself in a crystal. With one breath, Annie’s Titan mouth chuckled at the frailty of existence, and Spider hissed in glory. There was no love, no restoration of Eldia, and especially no kisses. The giant could not move, nor muster enough power to crystallize. His rand reached for her nape.

“This is it! End it, Eren!”

"Yeah, you’re probably right.” His companion replied, choosing to be willfully ignorant of the resolution. He was looking for signals. A signal for anything. A signal of hope. “Hey… Oy, oy, oy, oy, oy, oy, Jean! Look! It’s Armi-!”

\---

Boom.

A hail of fire and brimstone rose from the nucleus of Stohess. The Scouts, Military Men, and the Citizenry lost what was left of their their minds. Babies screamed, cats fell to their deaths, and dogs mewled their last howl as their skin turned to ash. A few persons were caught in the blast. They were incinerated, but these were calculated sacrifices. It was Commander Erwin that encouraged salvation for humanity, even at the cost of a mountain of corpses.

Unaware, with his opponent down under him, the Attack Titan’s hand felt the nob of a female body.

The hand gripped.

The hand of the Colossal Titan gripped the back of the Attack, blindsiding him. His gargantuan fingers clenched the Titan, that was wildly wiggling to abscond from its cinch. King Armin’s massive hand thrusted to the side, and so followed the long throw of Eren’s body.

 _Bertolt… Did you come back… Back from the dead, to save me?_ The Female Titan thought to herself, for one insane second. Then her blue eyes met the Colossal. It was fully skinned, and she felt the comforting presence of her liege. _Her hero, her man,_   _Armin Arlert._

The Attack Titan regained footing, and faced them like a four-legged beast. The Spider, with its web asunder, shook off the cobwebs. Its brows pointed at the tallest Titan, and then to the Female that could barely stand. Its eyes telling the story of fury.

The massive head of the King looked down at the Female. His eyes told a story, too. But it was not that of pity. It was not that of concern. It was that of genuine trust.

Armin, inside this shell, had full faith in what Annie would choose. They could stop Eren, then and there, and proceed with the repercussions later. What was important, is that they stayed together. No Crystals, No Mountains of Corpses, No Coordinates. They were there, the three Titan Transformers of Paradis Island, amongst the flow of their absoluteness reality.

The Spider creepily moved its neck, and let out a mighty gale. Marking his territory, as if to declare he was the flow. He was the damned story. The two best friends locked, as the Attack charged with haste, and the Colossal moved with purpose and unchallenged assertiveness.

Military Men, and Scouts of the two allegiances made way. They did not want to be in the path of this fight, nor were the Citizenry. Groups panicked into stampedes of different paths. Wherever these mortal bodies went, there was one common direction: Away from the Titans.

This was a long time coming.

The hand of the Female Titan moved. It slapped her already heavily damaged head. The footsteps of the Colossal Titan heralded a variety of options to her. Annie was publicly emasculated, sexually abused, and crashed at her wholesome. _I could stay here, and help Armin. Or I could side with Eren, and take the Colossal down a notch. Wait, how would the second thought even benefit me…? I really am wasted…_

Her heels almost buckled, and she felt dizzy. It looked around, and felt the carnage. As Armin and Eren played their game with Annie, it was the common folk who suffered. The People, that the Colossal Wall Titans were supposed to shield from the outside world, were dying. With every roar of the Attack, a child was separated from its parents. With every step of the Colossal, the Titans inside the walls felt closer to breaking out.

There had been newer questions that replaced the older ones, framed in the hearts and minds of the Citizenry. Which had been more likely to happen? The elephantine Pure Titans cracking from the walls? Or every Eldian within the island dying, due to the scuffle between the two "dear friends"? 

She had a mental breakdown. She wanted to think of Mikasa, and her talks of pride. She thought of Hitch instead, and her quick kiss. Due to her state, her thoughts went to Boris and his dumbness. 

The Attack was not as quick as the Jaws Titan, but he was narrowly evading Armin’s grabs. He sometimes threw rocks at the Colossal, as the King merely swatted such away. _Armin has a chance…_ But every time that Annie felt a bubble of hope, she would just look at Eren’s eyes. They turned yellow, then green, then white, then dark. She knew what it meant.

She knew that the power of the Founding Titan was itching to make itself known.

The fight of the two best friends was Armaggedon, if left unchecked.

When in deep doubt, the big blue eyes closed. Then reopened. She remembered why she was in this accursed island, in the first place. With contrition filled in her still beating heart, Annie’s eyes looked at the two men. They weren’t looking at her, and such negligence sealed her choice. She reopened her eyes.

The Female Titan turned tail, and eventually ascended the wall.

 _Where is she going?_ _What is her play?_ The King’s eye caught her movement, and the Attack acted accordingly. He attempted to catch up with her, but the momentary diversion of his attention allowed the Colossal to land a direct hit. A single stomp of his Colossal foot was all that was needed 

As the crystallized claws of the Female poked holes on Wall Sina, Annie couldn’t help thinking that Mikasa would fly in. She hoped for her fingers to be sliced off, just so she could see the proud woman again. It would had been beautifully poetic. With every foot raised, and every breath uttered, a consecutive tear dropped from her half-torn face. _The tears of what could have been…_

“She… She’s…?!”

“Perfect! She’s climbing the south side of the wall! Inform the Commander now, Connie!”

“I… I don’t think we should-“

“Don’t get cold feet now!” He scolded. “Don’t put the sacrifices of Eren and the others in vain!”

“… Okay. I’ll signal her now…”

Thud. The Spider was squished. The Attack Titan was handed to his back, on the cold ground of Stohess. He looked to the clouded sky, with a vapid demeanor, idiotically opened mouth that showed his overbite, and crossed eyes. He was out with one hit.

_This… This was Annie’s plan! I knew it! She wanted him distracted, so I could subdue him… good work, Annie!_

The Colossal spun his head, and the King scanned for his lover. Inside his skin, he called for her name.

He missed her, both figuratively, and literally.

The Female went over the wall, and landed on the plains. _Father… wait for me…_ She delusionally thought to herself. She was in no condition to run, ready to faint if she so much trips on her feet. She was certain that the scouts would easily entrap her. But she moved on. She advanced.  She trekked to secure the freedom that she thought she recently just won, even if she had little life force left.

“Ah, thank you, Connie.” The one-eyed Commander mused. “Execute, Contingency VI.”

\---

The fogs that originated from the battle mixed with the clouds above, creating an unhealthy and dangerous prick in the atmosphere.

The Attack Titan was drained.  Although he hid it, he was drained from withstanding the blows from the Female. It was in addition to the continual warfare  that he waged, among the colliding personas in his psyche. He was easy pickings for the steaming Colossal. It had its fire engulfed a couple streets and smoke covered the cloudy sky. The Citizenry, within the inner and outer portions of Wall Sina, were scrambling. People were disarray. But both the King and the Savior trusted their allies to maintain order.

Eren was extracted from his Titan, and he was on his knees breathing unnaturally. Armin allowed his Titan to kneel, extracted himself from the nape, and plopped down in front of him. He did not exert much energy, comparably, but we was likewise sapped.

They faced each other, enamored with sweat and blood adrenaline. This time, there was no extension of a handshake was hinted at. They argued, bickered, and physically fought over a short blond girl. They looked the other away, as their fight was for the sole hope of winning her unmitigated affection.

That short blond girl decided to leave. She left them both at the dust, and it engendered a typical acridity in the two best friends.

"Armin... Why don't you ever run away...?"

"... You're a bully, Eren." Armin guffawed. "You and Mikasa protected me from bullies. I know one when I see it. You are a bully."

"Is it just a matter of coincidence, that the bullies are stronger than their victims?"

"That's how a weak person thinks, Eren. We were of tragic pasts, but it did not justify you to become a villain. I thought you were the strongest. But now, with my own eyes, I can declare what is certain. The victim has become the victimizer."

“This is what you are best at, Armin.” His possessed eyes drifted its sight, at the dissolving Colossal Carcass. “You’re just good at kneeling.”

“No.” Armin burbled. “I am good at seeing the world in different perspectives. We can compromise, negotiate, and work for a way that is best for every People.”

“Such optimism… Your hope is an unattainable dream.”

  
“It is a dream I fight for.”

“Very well. You’ll be busy fighting for an empty cause, while I myself accept the world as it is. There can be no compromise, there can be no negotiations, and there can only be one People standing.”

“Eren, don’t say it…”

“I shall continue to advance, until all my enemies are dead!”

“Then you are truly lost…!”

Armin wheezed out, and almost fell on his hands on the pavement. His fists didn't blow off like previously, unlike his current composure. He had much to fix. So much to remedy, as the King who sought to coo his people. He was a person whose friend, Eren Yeager, has broken down and is in immeasurable conflict.

 _I have to get in touch with… Wait… Annie…_ The King thought to himself. Eren may have lost the physical fight with the Colossal, but Armin himself laughed haplessly. He lost at intellectual strategy. It dawned upon him. He was deceived into a hoax.

“Eren! What were you thinking!? You can’t take the world by yourself!”

“I agree.”

“Enough! Enough of you...! What was your goal? What's the play!?”

“To destroy my enemies.”

“Stop saying that!”

“Fine. I’ll give you something.” His eyes opened, and a flicker of evil pierced the the King. “I did not act by myself.”

“No… No!”

“I had faith in others. I had faith in my friends, who share the philosophy as me.”

“You’re stalling me!”

“It was the lesson I learned, when the Female Titan chased me at the Forest of Giant Trees. You can believe in yourself, in the same way you can believe in others.”

"You're not making sense, Eren! Tell me that you didn't do, what I think you did!"

The Spider shivered, but gave away nothing that could divulge his ace in the hole. 

“Damn it...! I’ll deal with you later, Eren.”

The frantic King turned around, to the direction of the damaged exterior of the walls. This was the side of the walls that the Female Titan climbed over. He hoped to put a stop the machinations, of the stalwart Survey Corps. Before he could move, the Savior turned Destroyer rushed over to him. The shattered Spider put himself over Cluttered King. They tackled, reacted, grappled, and they had another quarrel that none of them could get past.

As Titans, they shook the earth. As humans, these were merely boys who couldn't jump over a wall.

The King was beaten, and they both despised it. There was no counter for the trump card against the Female Titan.

The Savior thus saved his plan, “their plan”, from being thwarted.

 ---

Their plan, as the wounded Female Titan would soon find out, was Contingency VI.

The elusive one-eye Commander stepped out of the shadows. She was the last act of this tale.

As the dilapidating body of the Titan walked into the bullseye, she raised her hand in signal. It was a signal to activate the devices. “Fire!” She ordered out. “Fire!” it was so repeated, by the underlings. The devices zing and zang, and latched the Female Titan to her final prison.

Annie escaped the Spider, and the King was ought worried for her. His worries were well-founded. It had not even been five minutes outside of the district, that she fell to the clutches of another trap. Her last mistake.

Pinchers of needles clicked to her. Trap lines from devices clung to her damaged shoulders, thin thighs, and frangible nape. A few wires missed, but not enough to make a difference. _Let me harden… please, let me harden._ This was the same trap exacted upon her. It was the trap sprung at the Forest of Giant Trees, in her first chase of the Coordinate. She tried to advance, but she was constricted. Eren Yeager was far away, but she felt immobilized by the gigantic web weaved by a multitude of spiderlings.

 _Let me go… Please, let me go…_ The spiderling scouts forged a perimeter around her. Many were unknown to her, and they appeared by the hundreds. _When did they become so many…?_ They were uncountable, insurmountable. No assistance was coming for her. No Military Men, No Ackermans, No Armin and No Eren.

Among the units, she only recognized two. _The Horse-face. The idiot._

The two friends that she felt derision toward, were the same Scouts that ensured her demise. Jean crossed his arms in content, and Connie was too ashamed to look at her. They were her executioners at the gurney, minions of the Spider. They were two scouts, among hundreds.

And each scout held a dagger in their hand.

 _Release me… Or I will kill… I will kill all of you! Release me!_ Her lips moved, and it made a sound. It was the sound of nothingness. The Architect of the Last Act used her 3D Gear to land on her giant head. Her one-eye bore a hole through her hope, as the Female recognized her jailor.

“Had this been three years ago, I would have jumped at the chance of studying your anatomy.” Commander Hange coldly stated. “Alas, much has changed.”

  _I just wanted to go home..._ The Commander swirled her swords, motioning the final imperatives that Annie listened to in her life. She fainted.

\---

Annie Leonhart recovered cognizance. She was not in a crystal, nor was she in any dungeon. She was not in Eren’s lap, Armin’s embrace, or Mikasa’s hands. She smelled the unhealthy and dangerous prick in the air. No energy to transform, no energy to transform, Annie scanned at her body. And she noticed a hundred stab wounds to her person.

One stab wound from one scout.

She felt numb, and did not even register the blood loss. She couldn’t heal, nor can she turn her neck. She overheard laughter, insults to her person, and overall disdain for her very existence. It did not matter that she was Eldian, nor that she was a human. She felt less than nothing.

She wanted to blame someone for her unrest.

“… grk…!”

“Hahahaha! She’s trying to threaten us! Ain’t so easy without a mouth, is it?!”

“Good one, Kenji! Hahahahahaha!”

“Hahahaha!”

"What a schmuck!"

"Hahahaha!"

The Sinister Spiderlings were in rambunctious joy. Only scum could ever enjoy the torture of a little girl. But to their point, the free girl was indeed missing a mouth. She was on the plain ground, with her calves chopped off. Only two strands of yellow hair were on her head, her scalp was split open. The meat of thick legs, which was the envy of women and the desire of men, was suctioned off its meat. Her shoulder blades were missing, the flesh on her breast was non-existent, and both her kidneys, she felt, were on the palm of her hands. 

She would have screamed, if she could have. She surrendered to the bliss of tears. The tears pounded the ground, like the rain restlessly pounded her on the day that she tried to escape. She felt stupid, because the tears caused her to be blind as well.

“Come on, Connie! Get it over with! Before the King wakes from his shuteye!”

The tall bald boy moved to her, without rush. His eyes were filled with remorse, as he raised the dagger.

“This… this is for Ragako Village.” Connie declared. It looked like he wasn't about to do it. But eventually, due to the presence of his fellow scouts and a nagging persistence within him, he sluggishly sliced off her arms. He committed a deceitful act, different from his sorry intentions.

The man with the long mane strode to her, like a man who had to fulfill his purpose. His eyes were serious, that betrayed no emotion.

“When you were underground, I heard that Heichou kicked you hard in your stomach. That must really hurt, eh?” He said. “I’ll finish the job for him.

Cruelly, Jean took his turn by slicing off her abdomen. Her guts spilled out. Annie thoughtlessly dropped her kidneys and tried to put her guts back in.

“I know this is gruesome. But this is what you deserve, okay? You spun around a solider to death, with the wire of his 3D Gear. He begged for mercy. You were sadistic, and you enjoyed stomping on people, smashing people into trees, and downright cutting people in half. You’re a traitor, and you should have accepted being hanged.”

He stared down her lifeless eyes, not comprehending that Annie had already lost her sense of hearing. Jean picked himself up, and cleaned himself. Before bowing out, he nonchalantly told her the reason for his aggression. She read his lips, and her heart stopped pumping.

“Oh, and by the way, this is for the leader of the 104th. His name was Marco Bott.” Jean held back his own tears.

”You know… the guy that you betrayed, left defenseless by stealing his gear, and let a Titan eat him in half at Trost. You're a selfish bitch!” Jean had to be restrained, by the orders of the Commander.

It was the one-eyed Hange who approached her next, and she offered a thoughtful gaze. It was neither good nor bad, but neutral. “This isn’t personal, Miss Leonhart. This is what my predecessor would have done.”

She plunged a knife into her non-beating heart. She hoped of relieving her of her hardship, her misery.

“You remember me, butcherer?! It’s me, Kenji! I was the one who was stabbing my dagger into your crystal, daring you to come out! You're here now, coward, to face justice! You will pay for what you did, and I will finish the job that I started!” He hacked away, but it was his first slice that consummated the Death Spiral. The slash disconnected her spine from the back of her head, and the fluids sapped out therefrom. 

The clouds moved, and the fog evaporated. The stench in the air faded away, as the sun ultimately shined.

The rays of the sun illuminated the melting bones, the charred skull, and the decaying skin. These remnants belonged to the human form, of the Female Titan.

Four daggers from the Spiderlings.

Four steps that the Spider took to slink to her.

Four names he recited. Petra, Olou, Eld, Gunther.

And four names, the girl unfathomably reminisced, prior to her passing.

_Eren Yeager…_

_His Grace, "the good person", Armin…_

_My dear Mikasa…_

_Father… Oh, Daddy… Please… Daddy, help meee…._

In the course of the flow, Miss Leonhart had been a female of many capacities. She was of various roles.

A trainee, a soldier, a spy, and a warrior of Marley.

She was the best girl, with a dramatic past.

A lost girl.

An imprisoned girl.

A girl at trial.

The Female Titan, of immense strength.

She was a girl who was free.

There was one thing certain. It was the description that was most accurate.

Annie was a dead girl.

 

 


	8. The Separation Completes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Well, for the trio of Eren, Mikasa, and, Armin, rather than rejoicing due to feelings of success, it’s more like, “We can’t remain kids forever". From the perspective of the Survey Corps, with Commander Erwin and other Squad Leaders still present, the three of them continue to exist as youth. However, as the figures they depend on pass away one by one, Eren and them now must fill these positions."  
> \- Mr. Hajime Isayama

“I loved her for who she really was.”

“I loved her for the best that she could have been!” Armin lashed back.

Suns rose, dawned, and moons set and peaked. But since that day, this was the first time that they talked. A deluge of rain fall was dejectedly pittering and pattering on the window panes. The two friends were seated across each other, inside the Queen’s Quarters in Stohess. Among the ravaged scenery, the welfare residence headquarters of the Royal Government had been untouched by the fighting.

“You never even knew her that much. I’ve had more conversations with her than you’ve ever had.”

“Unlike you, the conversations that I had with her were meaningful. I learned more about her in two hours than you ever did.”

“In your point of view, badgering her and lopsidedly calling her a “good person” constitutes a meaningful conversation.”

“And in your point of view, I’m sure, getting kicked in the groin by her must be sufficient for a riveting discussion.”

The Sad Spider and the Ineffectual King had been bitterly arguing like this. They had been locked in this moot debate without end. While Eren and Armin had been arguing over who cherished the girl the most, the Female Ackerman had been quietly listening. She was seated in between her two boys.

“We had a vote. We had a damn vote!”

“It was a contentious process, as I recall.”

“We had a majority vote! A vote of seven to six!"

“It was a vote of Twilight. You felt the atmosphere in that Stadium. It was a vote that inescapably led to this.”

Armin’s fists balled, and he wanted to hit someone. He discouraged himself from flipping the table over him. “You know what your problem is, Eren?”

“Enlighten me.”

“You’re a slut.”

“Eh?”

“You’re used to whoring around, and getting laid by an entire barracks.”

“You… you criticize me in this way?"

“You lack self-respect. Every tramp does. You’ve become diluted to the point that you can’t sustain commitments. You can’t settle down. You’re of loose morals, and your lack of dedication to anything that resembles democracy is what caused all of this!”

“Democracy? You think this is democracy?!”

“There never is a perfect system, but it is our dedication to make things work that makes the difference. You didn’t want to make things work, Eren. Because you’re no different from a radical terroristic hooker. You’re a weak person. By the time a charlatan like you possesses any actual power, you won’t know what to do with it. By the time you became the authority, you started rebelling against yourself. Against us!”

“That’s thought-provoking.” Eren sardonically spat out. His dominant shoulder rested on the arm of his chair, and his legs were spread apart. His head turned toward somewhere else, outside the window. The wreckage and the loss of life still felt fresh. He was hoping to see a sign. He wanted a sign to get out of this mess.

“But looking outside, there’s no avoiding it…”

“What did you say, Eren?! If you want to say someth-“

“I said there’s no avoiding it.” His neck twisted back to his big blue eyes, not bothering to acknowledge the presence of their female friend in the middle. “You know what your problem is, Armin?”

“Oh, I can’t wait to hear this.”

“You’re a virgin.”

“I… I don’t believe this.”

 “You don’t know what it feels like to love.”

“I loved you, Eren. And I loved Ann-“

“Don’t say her name. Listen to me, Armin. You’ve never felt heaven. The heaven of an intimate embrace.”

“It’s ironic, coming from you. I’m warning y-“

“Shut your mouth, Armin. You don’t know what it feels like to massage her shoulders. You don’t know what it’s like to caress her hair, roll around in bed, and nibble each other’s skin. You never heard a woman scream your name, as you give in to her every desire, fetish, and most mischievous wish. You’re stuck between this mundane mud within the walls and the agony of hell underneath, because you never felt the explosion. You never felt the explosion inside between the legs of a wanting woman.”

“… What is your point, Eren?”

“You lack actual human emotions. You’re too self-centered to see that not everyone wants to sacrifice human life, to fulfill your impossible ambitions.”

“My ambition… is to save our world. The world within these walls…”

“Then stop seeing our people as merely expendable sheep for slaughter. That is the mindset of a weak person.”

The blue eyes watered, the yellow hair frazzled, but his mouth led to a guffaw. It was the noise of a person who was put on edge. The Sad Spider, for his part, was breathing heavily. His concentrated exhalations could have been heard across the distance, deep inside town.

In between the breaths of albatross and the giggles of laughter, Mikasa Ackerman sat with her hands on her lap. Her eyes were closed, as her temples felt itself starting to pound.

It was said that the exercise of enthusiastic debate was an adequate coping system. They were coping over the loss of their best girl. It was a psychological theory. To Mikasa Ackerman, it was overly simplistic mumbo jumbo. Because with the way things were going, the chances for rapprochement and unification were becoming slimmer and slimmer.

“Your words never meant anything to her.”

“Our “words” are what made us stronger.”

She was failing her purpose.

“I shared more than just pleasantries with her.”

“Her sleeping with you never meant anything.”

“You won’t say that, if you knew the manner of which she whispered my name.”

She was stuck in between. Her mouth wanted to open, and her lips wanted to move.

“Only whisper? She was screaming, for me.”

“She was pretending. In case you forgot, she was “a warrior of Marley”. You tend to forget things because of of your inability to withstand pressure, correct?”

"You contradict yourself. Doesn't that mean that she never meant what she "whispered" to you, either? A true friend to her, like I was, would have understood her character."

She wanted to speak, and her mouth opened periodically.

"For a time, she actually was an enemy. All enemies had to be destroyed." 

"You were unreasonably called an enemy, but I never gave up on you. You should have destroyed yourself, then?"

But no sounds ever came out.

"She always found me to be more reasonable. That must hurt you, doesn't it?"

"She related with a boy who was willing to build a mountain of corpses to get his way. Of course, she did."

It just did not stop with these two.

"You killed her."

"No, it was your hubris that led her to the trap."

They tried to allocate the accountability to their oppositor, but neither accepted the blame.

"Unless it was for hand-to-hand training, she kept her distance from you. You were always too angry and acted like a lout."

"On the other hand, she never bothered to train with you. She never respected you due to your lack of strength."

Her two boys had consistently been her sources of emotional support. Her hand firmly grasped the table, because Mikasa sensed that her exact sources of emotional support were dwindling.

"Physical contact meant nothing, because she trusted me more than she ever confided in you. She had faith in my propositions, and she never took the initiative to approach you."

"Trusted you? You make women feel manipulated and grossly misused. I make women feel protected. I make them feel safe, and secure." 

They argued like two bitches who wrestled for a bone. The bone represented the unrequited love of the girl who bit the dust.

"I should have left you, because everyone knew you were crazy. You should have fended for yourself."

"And maybe I should have left Heichou to let you die in Shiganshina."

 _Stop. Please stop._ Mikasa said, in her thoughts.

"I should have abandoned you, just like you abandoned her. I never should have called Hannes-san, on that day."

"I never should have stuck up for you. Without me, my father as a doctor always stitching you up,  and my connection with Hannes-san, you would have died. No one would have recorded your death."

"Doctor Grisha Yeager must be looking down from the sky. He must be ashamed, along with your mother."

"Our parents are gone. Yours is a special case, because your Mom and Dad died for nothing."

She was not the one who died, but the Female Ackerman felt like she was. She was a sinner, and she was sentenced to misery as her two childhood friends ripped into each other.

As they remembered their pasts and used these against each other, the Female Ackerman forgot the present. She forgot her reasons for being there. Mikasa Ackerman was sent for a two-fold purpose. She was supposed to 1) mediate between her two boys and, 2) inform them of the latest news. She was failing at the first, and she had not even attempted the latter.

Because of the extreme severity of the bad news, a unified front was desperately sought. Peace between the two strongest Titans, or even the appearance thereof, was indispensable for a favorable overall strategy.

The Assassination of the Female Titan had kicked the hornet’s nest. As the Titans left everything tumbling in their wake, chaos threatened to spill out. Positions were shockingly vacated and opportunistic parties made way.

Darius Zackly had gone missing. After the skirmishes, the Commander-in-Chief failed to report to the calls for his attendance. He was not at his station, or his household. His entourage aids did not recall seeing him. Rumors were that he suffered a stroke due to his physical obesity. The officially accepted assumption was that the aristocrats he tortured, had escaped. They were those who remained loyal to the previous monarchy, and they amassed a force to hunt him down like a dog. One unlikely rumor was that he had become bored of institutional administration. He inconspicuously retired, and retreated to the bliss of rural life. It was just him and his art.

Commander Dot Pixis, for obvious reasons, had been incarcerated. He was beneath the rubble of the demolished Stadium, ironically in the same dungeon room that held the Female Titan. Dot Tomato reddened in shame and he was as pale as Dot Death. But being surrounded by the Garrison Holdovers that he once bossed around, and only having the flickers of the wall torches’ flame as sounds, Dot Pixis was really Dot Detainee.

The Commander of the Military Men was hailed as a folklore legend. He fought bravely in the failed insurrection, and even insured that none of the Citizenry inside town was harmed. All the same, Nile Dok had suffered irreversible physical injuries. His arms were splintered, his one knee cap popped, and his larynx was crushed. He was in no condition for any leadership position, and his lieutenants were more content to leave with their full pensions than to fill in his boots.

Keith Shadis was in Trost. Although he was capable, he chose to decline invitations to resume duty. There were no Pure Titans left to fight, unless Marley shall boldly send them some. There needed to be an instructor to train the next generation, and the bystander that was Shadis was content to oblige.

The three nameless executives died.

One died deep inside town, when a wayward Scout accidentally hit him too hard on his cranium.

One died inside of Stohess, when he was squashed by the body of the Attack as the Colossal Titan slammed his opponent down.

One died just past Wall Sina, when the one-eyed Commander gave the go-signal to cut his throat in order to prevent the discovery of Contingency VI.

They died in three exact places. They were indeed replaceable. But given the foreboding reputation of Marley and the doubtful unity of the current Royal Government, no one was eager to volunteer as a replacement.

“I want you tell me. No, I need you tell me. Who else shared the same philosophy as you?”

“You need not worry about my allies, because your own are more prone to act insubordinately.”

“I… I have reassembled the Court. I have gotten used to being the King, that everyone needs me to be. Huff your smoke of a mutiny all you like, for I’ll snuff them out faster than you can ever imagine.”

“I have the high ground. You’ll sleep in your lonely bed, with the Queen thinking about stronger men. You’ll be kept awake and paranoid, with your thoughts studying every last man that even has the prospect of being under my employ.”

In truth, they were both stripped of their power.

Mikasa had yet to tell them, but it was unanimously decided by a special council. The special council determined that Armin was unfit to continue as King. And he would be informed that he would “voluntarily abdicate”, relinquish the crown and his position in the following month. The Colossal King was not but a Gambler Without Spare Change. For his part, a special counsel was organized. It was organized to investigate the culpability of the Attack Titan. Any evidence of collusion with the Survey Corps and their criminal liability was to be inquired upon, in the hopes of either disciplining the host or outright deconstructing the Corps altogether. The Queen, who was the person that he sought to protect this entire time, was the one who recommended the establishment of such counsel. The Savior was not but a Bluffer Who Will Be Proven to be a Fraud.

And in whole truth, their so-called friends had contemplated leaving them both in the dirt. Members of Team Eren and of Team Armin had capitulated, as the 104th had been irreparably altered again.

Connie had been crying himself to sleep. The reasons were his last-minute remorse over his role in the Assassination, and the positive developments of his divorce proceedings. Sasha filed for the separation papers, despite his proclamations for what could have been. This was despite his wish that they could have made children together. Connie had returned to Ragako Village, and he was comforted by his mother.

“Welcome home, Connie.” She said with an easy smile.

Even this solace did not last, because without the periodical check-up of the Progenitor Titan's host, she reverted back into her hideous Pure Titan form.

“Wel…. Welcom… Welcome Hommmeeeee.” The Pure Titan said with a difficult lisp.

Sasha took a leave of absence from the Survey Corps. She relinquished her functions to the Military System altogether, and volunteered to head the special commission. This was the special commission created, by law, to evaluate the personal and property damages incurred in Stohess. Her request was granted and she insisted on adding ways on how to help the affected Citizenry back on its feet. Whereupon there, she was reunited with Hitch. They refrained from speaking to each other, and looked away when one glanced upon the other.

Boris was seen approaching Hitch at numerous occasions, asking for the sweet nothings and empty promises that she previously gave. Despite the requests and warnings, the lame Boris continued to harass them.

"A deal is a deal, Miss Hitchie. You said, besides the sucking, at the very least you will put your honey lips over my co-"

Ultimately, they did not file an administrative complaint. He was inermittently knocked out by an apple, and the other times by a hard slap on his cheek. 

They both were worn down, and their mourning wasn't going to get any better. Sasha and Hitch eventually reconciled their differences.

Alone, Jean went to Marco’s grave. He laid down flowers that he picked by himself, as advised by his loving mother, on his resting place.

"You once told me that I was a good leader, because a weak person easily empathizes with the majority of the People, who they themselves were weak. But you were the real hero, because a weak person who lives for too long becomes one such who feels morally irreproachable."

He sat beside his buried, half-eaten friend, and contemplated the handgun revolver that rested on his palm.

Only Flocke seemed to have had a semblance of a gleeful ending. He healed from his injuries, and he was jubilant upon learning of the Assassination. With the uncertainty of the Spider’s predilections and tendencies, and before and until such time that the King was formally deposed, Flocke was chosen for a very special task. He was covertly approached by a Royal Messenger, and Flocke was asked about his amenability to being the “plaything” of the Queen.

"Ahem, it is about time that I was appreciated for what I do."

His little Flocke tightened, unaware of the unbelievably rough suffering that he could soon feel.

“Does your black heart even feel anything? Do you even comprehend the adverse effects, of your actions, on the People? The People you claim to cherish so much are inclined to disregard us!”

“You cannot blame the actions of a patriot upon the innate desires of the People. The People will act upon their innate desires, irregardless of whatever paper regulation you might impose.”

“So you’re a primitive populist now, huh? You believe in your “profound” populism?”

“I believe in whichever system that does not appropriate a frail monarchy.”

“I’ll show you. The People will not commit another uprising because of respect. They respect me as King, and the wisdom that I espouse.” Argued the Ruler who was about to be removed.

“You will fail. Because of fear, the People won’t even think about raising a toothpick against us. They are in fear of my powers, as they always were ever since they heard my roar. You are welcome, despite your ungratefulness.” Brooked the man who was afraid, and aroused, of being beaten up by girls of small height.

Unknown to them, the People did not give a shit. 

The People could had cared less, because of the establishment of a new order. The forces that were previously likely to fight each other, had decided to cease hostilities. 

The merchants, led by Flegel Reeves, were exalted as true big brothers of the People. During the skirmishes, the bouncers and hitmen of the Reeves Company went out of their way to guide the panicked People into safety. Without them, the collateral damage would had been higher.

The Churches of the Walls spread their arms and opened their gates for every refugee. Every refugee that survived the Clash had livestock missing, property vandalized, or their families torn apart. Free shelters were provided, non-taxable clothes were distributed, and materials for reconstruction were handed out. The pious representatives of the Church improved morale among the Citizenry.

The capitalists, spearheaded by Mr. Stratmann, tied them up together. He tied them with a nice bow, as the damages incurred reactively led to an increase of his stocks. With supplies dropped and fears elated, the farmers, fishermen, and the rest of the commonfolk continually purchased from his corporate branches.

With a sufficient sum of money, Mr. Stratmann essentially invested and bought Flegel Reeves into his permanent bidding. He also installed donations to the Church of the Walls. His daughter, Carly, also vigorously volunteered for religious outreach and personal advertisements. The Church of the Walls was bribed to obey the influence of Mr. Stratmann.

And, as a capitalist, Mr. Stratmann’s influenced patience for the waiting for an opportunity. It was an opportunity for a crack at seizing absolute control.

After meetings conducted through back-channels, The Berg Newspaper was convinced of their cause. They subtly framed their stories to reflect badly upon the government. 

It was the unholy pact of understanding between the rich and the poor. Where once the poor was chomping on the bit to steal from the rich, and the rich were prepared to keep the poor under their heels, a mutual goal was agreed upon. The greed of the capitalists, street smarts of the merchants, the scavenger nature inside of journalists, and the virtue of religion formed to develop a different view of the world.

A chant was formed. This served as coded chatter for conversationilists in bars and passwords for entry in their hidden meetings. "Delight! Delight! Exalt the Oligarchy! Praise the People! Equitable resources for all! Raise taxes on the richest! Delight! Exalt the Oligarchy! Praise the People! Delight!"

This view of the world was Socialism. These people felt that they can become the regime themselves. The only thing standing in their way was the regime itself. It was their disdain of what they currently saw as an infirm system that bounded them, and ironically the system of which they intended to capsize and take over.

The socialists were spreading their influence within the walls. It hid under the shadows that were cast by an unsteady government, ready to dethrone at the slightest hint of puss.

The fishermen and farmers, too, were not left non-involved. These groups retreated to their rivers, lakes, farms, and houses. Most vowed never to return to the urban cities, as it was for the sake of their diminishing children. But many able-bodied breadwinners assured their friends and financers, that if the time came for another uprising to overthrow a sickly monarch, they will answer that same call. 

These parties were united as a response to the Clash of the Titans. Unlike the Colossal and the Attack, these conflicting parties and contrasting intentions unified. This new order was unified because of their hatred, and distrust, toward the shortcomings of the Sullen Spider and Flunkee King. 

It was a Cabal, of which, hid a compendium of daggers in the dark.

“Daggers. I wanted to uncover every last dagger from its sheathe, dismantle them, and ban the forging of new ones. There should be no more damned daggers in this forsaken island.”

“Take away the arms of the People, a foolish tyrant will show his fear. A dagger is a useful tool.”

“A tool for a traitor. According to the reports, it was as if she had been stabbed with a hundred daggers. She never should had been subject to that.”

“Contingency VI was presupposed with me not being rendered inactive. There was the assumption that I was to follow in their trail, and assist in the extraction from her Titan nape. Your Colossal Titan hindered and forbid me from giving my utmost supervision.”

“You have been calling me a weak person for a long time. If I... If I am a weak person, and I literally defeated you, what does that say about you? You weren’t there. You didn’t go. They decided on that plan without you. You already served your purpose of giving her to them. You were not in good condition, and what was worse is that you prevented me from going. You were the one who was blinded with your pride, because you were the one who wanted to save her.”

“I believed in my friends, my fellow patriots. Her death was never part of the plan. They told me so.”

“They lied to you. The same way you lied straight to my face. I could have saved her, and you would have just watched. ”

“You were the one that stopped me from going over the wall. Your interference is what prevented me from really saving her.”

“I never thought that saving a girl included "tearing her to shreds as a Titan". A hundred stab wounds was excessive, and your outburst tantrum was what carried her to that.”

“No one really knows for sure if it had been really one hundred. it could had been just ten. Only four stabs were fatal. One to her shoulder blades, one that spilled her guts, one that plunged into her heart, and one that sliced her spine.”

“You speak so casually of such gore, because you’re used to such carnage up close.”

“We’ll never be sure.”

“Yes. We can never produce an autopsy, to ultimately determine the cause of death. Truly, because you lot decided to leave her grave unmarked.”

“Maybe it’s for the best…” It was Mikasa who whispered this idea. It was heard only by her. Perhaps it had been for the best that neither Eren nor Armin were introduced to her corpse. No living mortal would have survived the unimaginable Armageddon that could have ensued, if either of them reacted viscerally to her remains.

But Mikasa vividly imagined it. Not of the reaction of her two boys, but of the agony that the girl had felt in her lonesome.

It was raining heavily outside. It was raining harder than it was on the day that the girl escaped from her crystal.

Every drop of water sounded like a swift swing of a blade. And with every swing of a blade, a shudder and a spasm of pain accompanied such.

The Female Ackerman herself was once powerless. Her parents killed and her kidnapped by slave traders. Unlike for the Female Titan, there had been no one to rescue her. There had been no one to rid this world of beasts who wore human flesh.

In the battle between AruAni and EreAni, it was MikaAnnie that lost the war.

But Mikasa knew that the host of the Female Titan was a brave woman. Mikasa knew that she would have faced her mortality with pride. Her mind kept flashing back to that day, however.  Mikasa’s fingers closed, then reopened. It repeated that motion, as her two boys traded barbs. Her mind was distracted, along with her body, because it did not fully process yet that she will never again hold hands with her best girl.

“You should be ashamed. Your actions were those of outlaws and "traitors", the very same labels you attached to her.”

“You claimed that I was a bully, but bullies oppressed the weak. My team and I protected the People, and shielded the posterity from predictable wrath.”

“Are you even hearing yourself? You may had been the one to wear her out, to tire her out in her Titan form, but you were nothing but a pawn. You didn’t protect anybody. She was the master of combat, and she could have ran circles around you as certain as the rain fall outside.”

“But she did not, and I indeed want you to hear every word I say. If the Armored Titan ever steps foot within the island, I will handle Reiner in the same efficient manner that I handled the Female.”

“You’re okay with saying Reiner’s name, but not hers?”

“Watch yourself. It was my skill that has forestalled all-out war, both within the island and from enemies abroad.”

“Your skills are non-existent. You have no natural talents. It was Commander Hange that ensured her demise, and the amicable effects that came thereafter. No one else had the skill to execute such an elaborate plot.”

“Commander Hange was shy, even choosing to recuse herself from the trial proceedings. But I was the one who pushed her. I was the one who brought her into the fold.”

Indeed, the one-eyed Commander had chosen to be intangible. She did not reveal herself upon the knowledge of the initial escape attempt, or visibly participate in the trial proceedings. Official assumptions placed her at the borders of the Oceanside, dutifully affixing herself with the defense of the island and the interrogation of the Marley War Ships Crews. She was an enigma.

Humiliatingly for the two boys, Commander Hange had been playing them both from the start. She was the Great Manipulator, as she was the one who set the story in motion.

She was the one who set her subordinates to tell Jean and Connie of the escape. She was the one who relayed signals to the executive committees, that a public judicial trial was the right way to go. Kenji served as her eyes and ears, while Boris and others were outsourced to keep track of the perceptions of the general populace. Even now, Mr. Stratmann was meant to believe that Flegel Reeves and the Berg Newspaper were his men. But make no mistake, they were the one-eyed Commander’s trusted colleagues.

Behind the curtain, she had been the one prodding the forces into a collision. There was no conspiracy hatched without Hange-san knowing about it. There was no maneuver made, by the government or its wannabe guerrillas, that was not in a report placed on her table. On an island that fostered puzzles within puzzles, Hange Zoe was master of the maze.

Faced with her guile, the Titan Transformers were pawns. Team Eren and Team Armin had been minions of Team Hange, all along. She waited to make her move, as she wanted to see who was going to triumph in the overt power struggle.

Which was more dangerous? The knife pointed in front of you, or the one already held against you behind your back?

The latter was the right choice, because with the players departed, Commander Hange was the premier choice to ascend to the position that was once held by Darius Zackly. No one was not of authority or clout not to acquiesce. The announcement of such appointment would accompany the abdication of the King.

“You should have never bartered with Commander Hange.”

“I thought you have acquiesced with her, given that you both shared the same passion for knowledge.”

“Ever since Shiganshina, she replaced that passion for the desire to win at any cost.”

“It is no wonder why, given the nature of who replaced the former Commander of the Survey Corps. You could never fill in those boots of his.”

With precision and logic, Commander-in-Chief Hange had consolidated the powers of the Collective Military Branch of the Government. She committed such actions without emotional attachment. Of which, her predecessor would have been proud.

The Commander-in-Chief was tasked to fill in the boots of those who were discarded. She was tasked to recommend the next wave of leaders, and lay down the foundation for an unassailable line of succession. This wave was meant to confront the mainland threat of Marley, and she knew just the persons to fill in these roles.

The roles were that of Commanders of the Garrison, Military Police, and the Survey Corps.

For their collaboration in the Assassination of the Female Titan, Jean Kirstein was to be recommended for the Survey Corps. It was he who was praised for his quick-thinking in his leadership in the defense of Trost and the recapture of Shiganshina. Eren Yeager was to be designated second-in-command, unless of course he would prove to be unreliable.

Due to his intimate knowledge and knack for internal politics, his general knowledge and intuition possessed, and mostly because it was to save face, the Commander of the Military Police was meant to be Armin Arlert. It was to be an artificial appointment, because the bulk of the work was planned to be burdened by the following.

Mikasa Ackerman. Mikasa Ackerman was to be assigned as Commander of the Garrison both because of her strong love of home, and her valiant protection of the Queen during the faulty Coup.

Amongst the game of promotions, Levi Ackerman felt appalled. He got on his horse, and rode southward to Shiganshina and to the Oceanside. He was more concerned with securing the safety of the People, be they Eldian or not. The children were the future, and Levi knew how it felt like to be a needy child of the underground.

Because unlike most characters in this tale, Levi Ackerman was only concerned about doing the right thing.

This was the summary. It was the summary of what would be, as it was a future that revolved around the Death of the Female Titan. Mikasa Ackerman was supposed to confide in them of this information. The chances of the Squished Spider and the Crimson King in resolving their dispute were lower than that of peace between the generations-long hated rivals of the Marley Magistrates and the Eldian Empire. But the bickering reached a crescendo. 

“This is what led to the expulsion of the previous Reiss line, you know? All the in-fighting.”

“No, what led to their self-destruction of their dynasty was the vow of pacifism. The 145th King, Karl Fritz, imperiled every Eldian.”

“Do you remember, Eren...?"Armin asked, with the the slightest hint of an attempt to hug and make-up. "It was an unbroken line, without a serious effort to challenge them. It t took the Commander of the Survey Corps, his daring gambles, and a squad of misfits  to unmake them.” 

“You’ll never be him.” Eren replied, not wanting to take the bait.

“What did you say? I didn’t hear you.”

“I said you’ll never be him.”

“Dam… Damn it. Are you also going to play that card? I dare you!”

“Play what card?”

“You’re going to compare me to Commander Erwin, aren’t you? What is it then? I’m not as smart as him, decisive as him, or as ruthless as him?!”

“No, I can’t compare you to Commander Erwin.”

“… Well, then do-“

“Because Commander Erwin was a winner. And you’re a loser. You’ve always been a loser, Armin.”

“Eren…”

“To compare you with Commander Erwin would be of tantamount disrespect to every Eldian, that ever lived and died.”

“Eldian… This is what it is about…”

“The motherland is everything this existence is about.”

“I see. Then I have to tell you something, Eren. I… I never wanted to say this, but I have to. It’s for your sake, and the sake of your “precious idealization”.”

“You cannot stop the inevitable, whatever filibuster you attempt.”

“No… No. This is not a filibuster, or delay. And I do agree about what is inevitable.”

“You’ve accepted our destiny, then?”

“I’ve accepted that I can never live up to Commander Erwin, the same way you can never live up to your father…”

“So? And so wha-“

“And Eren Kruger.”

“Wha… What?”

“You will never live up to your father, your Eren Kruger, Uri Reiss, Frieda Reiss, and the rest of the imaginary voices in your cluttered head. By the time the that the history books will be written and sealed, Karl Fritz would be remembered as a far more competent Eldian than you will ever be.”

“You… You don’t know what it’s like.”

“The hell I do. And like I said before, whatever you experienced, whatever you think this world owes to you… It doesn’t justify you to become a villain.”

“This world is mine, and it is ours. Like my mother said, I was born into this world.”

“And just like you said about my parents, you will die for nothing.”

Eren stood up from his chair, and leaned forward on the table. His palms rested on the surface, as Armin crossed him arms in contempt. They were sizing each other up, but not in a negative way. They were looking for a signal. This signal was that of any semblance of their friendship. They were searching for reasons, desperately, on how they even came to respect each other, given that both seem to think they now see one other for who they really were.

"You... You might be the Colossal Titan, but you'll always be dwarfed by the legacy of Commander Erwin."

"And you're a poor copy of your idolized Kruger, a bastardized version of your father Doctor Grisha, and a far cry from the longevity of the Reisses and Fritzes."

They actually saw each other in a skewed light. But there was no binding or clarifying force to lead them away from their doom.

“With you, the future of the happiness, of our people within the walls, is bleaker than ever.”

“And with you, my old friend, the future of a restored Eldia never had a chance.”

Her mind was with Armin. But her heart was always with Eren.

She never cared for an Eldian Empire, but the great debt she owed to Eren and the zeal of which he spoke compelled her. It compelled her to replicate his unyielding attitude. Alternatively, she had lived and valued only the People, good and bad, within the walls. She cannot practically see herself fighting for anyone else, especially a species of People unknown to her.

She sat, sat, and sat for longer. This was the perfect opportunity to say something, to say anything. She heard the grinding of Eren’s overbite, the loud beating of Armin’s chest, and the hard thumping on her head. 

Unlike Armin, Eren was willing to run away. He picked up his bearings, and made for the door.

But unlike Eren, Armin always nurtured doubts on how to bravely face his enemies. He sat idly on his chair, with his body as hard as stone.

Mikasa pleaded. “Wait… Wait!” 

The beaten Eren Yeager was half-way out the door, and the defeated Armin Arlert was already on his feet. However, because their ears picked up the first words that they heard from their female companion, these distinct pairs of eyes looked toward her. The two persons always cared about their oldest friend.  Her head was down, not allowing her dark pupils to match up with Armin’s big beautiful blue pearls, or Eren’s ever-changing colors. For a moment, she knew that there was a chance of redemption. These two friends can reconcile, here and now.

She raised her head.

Her mouth opened.

“Please… Please, don’t go.” So prayed the little girl.

Armin thought about it.

Eren already left.

Because these two men finally agreed on one thing: Mikasa Ackerman was no Annie Leonhart.

Things really were never going to be the same. And the cause of all this was a girl. This was a girl who was short, fragile, and blond of hair who just wanted to return home to Daddy.

The Attack and the Colossal exited the Queen’s Quarters, and out of Mikasa’s horizon. They waltzed out of the building, and they went their own ways. They mutually ignored the questions lobbed to them by the Fake News Peddlers, the requests for orders by their entourage, and the concerned complexions on the faces of the People.

Mikasa, who did not immediately realize her failure, followed suit. By the time that the drizzle of rain stopped, they had already been gone.

Eren Yeager marched towards the outside of the walls, where he would find himself staring across the ocean. Not a single Eldian will choose to fight beside him. It was only a matter of time before he would cross such a large body of water, whereupon he will most likely be killed due to his self-righteous crusade.

Armin Arlert sulked back to the Royal Capital, toward the innermost sanctum of his fortress of solitude. He will be surrounded by tin men and sycophants. He will climb up his mountain of corpses, whereupon he will partake in futile reflection on how to indemnify the dead that was beneath him. 

The two men separated, and their paths were opposite of each other.

She was standing there, like a fool.

Her two boys had grown up, and they forgot about their other significant friend. She was a friend who was like a mother. Without an utterance of thanks, they forgot all about her.

Mikasa fell on her knees, as the nearby Citizenry and the soldiers looked on. Her pupils were blank, and without emotion. The various eyes of the crowd mixed to form a single expression. It was an expression of pity, because they themselves felt her tremendous sorrow enveloping them. It was poison, as she held her head due to a precipitous, agonizing aneurysm.

In the middle of Stohess, with the build up on the pounding on her head, the Female Ackerman experienced a migraine. Due to her umbrageous nerves, she suffered a seizure. As her being was in uncontrollable bodily movement, the walls around her caved in.

The sun was shining brightly, and a multitude of children walked around and ran past her.

Annie Leonhart was dead.

But she hadn't been the only lost girl roaming within the walls…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You have reached the end of this fanfiction story.
> 
> I appreciate your views, kudos, and comments. In this Earth, please continue extending your hearts to every girl who feels lost, trapped, or heartbroken.
> 
> God bless you. Take care, and continue valuing your best girls.
> 
> "My personal struggle is that I cannot say that their childhoods have officially ended. For this point, please await the upcoming chapters."  
> \- Mr. Hajime Isayama


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